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Lot 74

 

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"Somnath, along with a few others, can be regarded as the progenitor of the main spirit of the seventies in Indian art. Unlike most of his predecessors and contemporaries, he was never primarily motivated by art objects and styles of art, past or present, of indigenous or of foreign origin…His primary motivation has always been his experience of the external world around him. It has always been his aim to objectify visually his own experience of... "Somnath, along with a few others, can be regarded as the progenitor of the main spirit of the seventies in Indian art. Unlike most of his predecessors and contemporaries, he was never primarily motivated by art objects and styles of art, past or present, of indigenous or of foreign origin…His primary motivation has always been his experience of the external world around him. It has always been his aim to objectify visually his own experience of the phenomenal world in perceptible terms, so that others can share his experience" (Pranab Ranjan Roy, "Hunger and the Painter: Somnath Hore & the Wounds", Somnath Hore: Bronzes, CIMA exhibition catalogue, 1995, p. 33).

Somnath Hore's political beliefs have played an integral role in the artist's "experience of the phenomenal world" and as a result, in his oeuvre as well. His early political leanings towards communism and subsequent commitment to addressing human suffering are evident in his art, particularly in his bronze sculptures. A medium he only fully explored late in his career, in the 1980s, his bronzes conceal under their lines and forms the story of his unwavering dedication to the documentation of suffering.

"Violence and suffering, compassion and loneliness are inseparably linked in Somnath Hore's vision of reality. However, this does not mean that he sees despair as the natural state of man. Human suffering in his view is manmade and social, not natural or metaphysical. Therefore, to persistently depict the degradation of man and the social marginality of the victim is for him an act of protest and a symbolic assertion of his solidarity with the persecuted" (R. Siva Kumar, "Somnath Hore: Images of Discontent", Ibid., p. 36).

Writing about the artist's bronzes, Siva Kumar notes, "Most of Somnath Hore's sculptures are small. But they have the right scale in relation to his forming and performing hands. The modeling of the face, the hunched back, the folds and axial shifts of the body, everything carries the imprint of the artist's hands. Turning his bronzes in our hands or running our hands over them, we become aware of this intimate shaping process. The visual metamorphoses of the punched holes, the slit surface, the torn edges, the marks left by molten wax, and the rugged channels, into empty eyes and wordless mouths, into torn and scalded skin, into mangled bodies, exposed bones and misshappened limbs are also most convincing at this scale. Somnath Hore's transformations are engaging but his virtuosity is never demonstrative. He does not use skill like a craftsman, though technique is crucial to his vision, it achieves a rare incisiveness in his hands. He puts form-realization above the political overtones of subject-matter, and believes that great art outlives it historical moment. In his own words the artistic excellence of art 'is revealed through its own components, not because of any message of polemic'. The strength and radical edge of his work comes from this fusion of means and meaning" ("Somnath Hore: Images of Discontent", Ibid., p. 36).

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