Important Notice

Manjit Bawa is famed for his supple, pneumatic figures superimposed on monochromatic backgrounds. Artists have varyingly termed this suppleness as “reconstruction” (Prabhakar Kolte) and “a physical mutation” (J.Swaminathan)—but in no way a distortion or dislocation. Bawa has drawn from the Pahari miniature painting tradition, in terms of the delicacy of line and the subdued colour—and personalised it to blend into his artisticidiom. “...Bawa is... Manjit Bawa is famed for his supple, pneumatic figures superimposed on monochromatic backgrounds. Artists have varyingly termed this suppleness as “reconstruction” (Prabhakar Kolte) and “a physical mutation” (J.Swaminathan)—but in no way a distortion or dislocation. Bawa has drawn from the Pahari miniature painting tradition, in terms of the delicacy of line and the subdued colour—and personalised it to blend into his artisticidiom. “...Bawa is given to a minimalist approach as far as he does not believe in either a textured background or a conventionally dictated spatial perspective...” (Manjit Bawa: Recent Works Exhibition Tour 2004, New Delhi-Mumbai-Baroda catalogue, not paginated). His figures draw heavily from mythology; works such as Krishna and the Bull, 1991 and Dharma and the God, 1984, echo the profundity of Hindu beliefs.

This present lot is remarkable in its use of colours—brown dominates the scene, suggestive of a desert—not in location or topography, but in its barrenness. Here, a lion cub treads slowly, in small measured steps. Its hunched form indicates a weariness. Bawa’s stylistic treatment of the animal, as with his human figures, originated from his days at the College of Art, Delhi, when he rejected imitating Western and Indian masters in developing Essex. Colours blend seamlessly, with hints of Sufi mysticism. While animals derived from Indian mythology feature frequently in Bawa’s oeuvre—either in solitude, or engaging with humans—this cub is removed from any social ormythological context; it simply exists, moving forward in search of something.

“What makes Manjit’s work contemporary is its remoteness from the everyday present. His concern is not so much like that of the modernistswith the fate of man in time as with the enigma of his very presence.” (J. Swaminathan, “Dogs Too Keep Night Watch”, Let’s Paint the Sky Red: Manjit Bawa, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2011, p35)

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