Important Notice

Jehangir Sabavala’s canvases from the early and mid 1960s mark one of the most important turns in his oeuvre; a period of crystallization and definition in his painterly evolution during which he discovered the artistic vocabulary that would take his paintings from being “pretext for adventure” to “site[s] of epiphany” that transcended common genres and motifs. “Between 1961 and 1964, Sabavala attempted to break away from the suffocating... Jehangir Sabavala’s canvases from the early and mid 1960s mark one of the most important turns in his oeuvre; a period of crystallization and definition in his painterly evolution during which he discovered the artistic vocabulary that would take his paintings from being “pretext for adventure” to “site[s] of epiphany” that transcended common genres and motifs. “Between 1961 and 1964, Sabavala attempted to break away from the suffocating formality of Synthetic Cubism; and in this, he found a remedial alternative in the work of Lyonel Feininger…‘Through Feininger’s pure, precise and yet very delicate and personal renderings of cloud and boat and sea, I discovered the joys of extending form into the beauty and clarity of light. I became interested in the source of light, its direction, its effect. Through these experiments, gradually, my work changed’” (Ranjit Hoskote, The Crucible of Painting: The Art of Jehangir Sabavala, Eminence Designs Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, 2005, p. 89, 95)

Illustrated in a 1966 Sadanga series book on Sabavala, one of the first monographs published on an Indian artist, the present lot underscores Sabavala’s new mastery of colour, light and form. Elaborating on his palette, the artist notes, “I observe an object or a landscape to which I intuitively respond. I analyze it to find the myriad tones that make up its colour. I see ten or more shades in the grey-blue or slate jade of the sea on a particular day, the mood, the season – and they enter my paintings in combinations that are unpredictable” (as quoted in Ranjit Hoskote, Pilgrim, Exile, Sorcerer: The Painterly Evolution of Jehangir Sabavala, Eminence Designs Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, 1998, p. 79).

Executed in the artist’s new, confident vocabulary, this painting illustrates the Greek myth of the fall of Icarus. Frequently referenced in literature and visual art, Icarus was the son of Daedalus, a respected Athenian architect and craftsman, who, along with his father, was exiled to the island of Crete. To escape their prison, Daedalus fashioned wings for them out of wax and bird feathers, but warned Icarus about the perils of flying too close to both the sun and the sea. However, overcome by the new experience and power of flight, Icarus soared too high, melting the wax that held his wings to him, and fell to his death in the sea below.

Speaking about this work, Sabavala reminisces, “Here we enter the world of Greek myth and legend. Icarus’ father Daedalus made wings for the two of them to escape from Crete where they had been imprisoned. Icarus however flew too close to the sun, and the wax attaching his wings melted – and down he plunged to his death in the Aegean Sea. I saw him those many years ago, as a flame like meteor, a star burst, in the heavens – yes, but too close to the sun. A dark Aegean Sea forms a menacing base, and just visible on the horizon is Greece” (correspondence with the artist, July, 2010). Captured a few moments before hitting the surface of the dark, grey-green sea below him, in this painting Icarus seems almost accepting of his tragic fate, perhaps even acknowledging that it was his own foolishness that led to it.

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