Important Notice

In keeping with Krishen Khanna’s use of biblical narratives in his work, the present lot explores the parable of the Good Samaritan. According to a story Jesus once told his disciples, a wounded Jew was overlooked and refused help by members of the clergy. However, when a Samaritan, a member of a group of people who held conflicting views with those of the Jews, encountered this man, he not only took pity on him, but bandaged all his wounds,... In keeping with Krishen Khanna’s use of biblical narratives in his work, the present lot explores the parable of the Good Samaritan. According to a story Jesus once told his disciples, a wounded Jew was overlooked and refused help by members of the clergy. However, when a Samaritan, a member of a group of people who held conflicting views with those of the Jews, encountered this man, he not only took pity on him, but bandaged all his wounds, took him to the nearest inn and offered money for his treatment.

Here, Khanna depicts the moment in the biblical narrative where the Good Samaritan lifts the injured man after bandaging his wounds. As in the artist’s other works on these themes, “The lack of ameliorating colours and expressive brushwork, the lack of sweetening or distraction from the key performance, gives this art an incisive and enduring character that goes far beyond the photo-based representations…Technically, these narrative scenes, qualifying, in view with importance and the familiarity of their subjects, for the art historical term ‘history painting’” (Norbert Lynton, Krishen Khanna – Images in My Time, Mapin Publications, Ahmedabad, 2007, p. 22).

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