Important Notice

Lot 57

 

Quick Zoom

The late 1950s and early 60s represent a transitional period in Krishen Khanna's oeuvre, when the artist was still working as a banker full time and posted to the small town of Kanpur. A self-taught artist, Khanna experimented with palette and subject during these years. Inspired by abstract expressionism and artists like Jackson Pollock, who he learnt about from the American critic Clement Greenberg, Khanna renounced colour and the figure to... The late 1950s and early 60s represent a transitional period in Krishen Khanna's oeuvre, when the artist was still working as a banker full time and posted to the small town of Kanpur. A self-taught artist, Khanna experimented with palette and subject during these years. Inspired by abstract expressionism and artists like Jackson Pollock, who he learnt about from the American critic Clement Greenberg, Khanna renounced colour and the figure to concentrate on activating every part of his surface with his application of paint.

"In the period 1959 to 1961, which roughly corresponds with the Kanpur years, Krishen's work reflects a state of mental transition and during it he made several paintings on the subject of the monsoon. From drizzle to dense cloud to the first sprouts of new life, like the earliest lotus buds in a pond, these paintings were reflections of this period of personal and professional flux. In a number of paintings a dominant brushstroke...appears like abstract calligraphy. The effect is of an internal rhythm and intense movement, both horizontally and vertically. It is from these images, which continue till 1967, that his figurative works...emerge" (Gayatri Sinha, Krishen Khanna: A Critical Biography, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2001, p. 81).

Read More
Artist Profile
Other works of this artist in: this auction  |  entire site