Important Notice

“I have traced the progression of my imagery from academic to near-abstraction. My works are generated by my intense feeling for my environment. I seek to find myself and follow it to wherever it leads me. Thus continues my voyages in images.” - K K HEBBAR

Born in 1911, K K Hebbar was among the pioneers of modern Indian painting, paving the way for future generations of artists. Though he received formal training in the Western... “I have traced the progression of my imagery from academic to near-abstraction. My works are generated by my intense feeling for my environment. I seek to find myself and follow it to wherever it leads me. Thus continues my voyages in images.” - K K HEBBAR

Born in 1911, K K Hebbar was among the pioneers of modern Indian painting, paving the way for future generations of artists. Though he received formal training in the Western academic tradition at Bombay’s J J School of Art in the 1930s and later at the Académie Julian in Paris, he soon realised these frameworks limited the evolution of his own artistic language. Seeking a more personal expression, Hebbar turned to India’s rich visual heritage, drawing inspiration from Jain manuscript illustrations, Rajput and Mughal miniatures, and the murals of Ajanta. He skillfully blended these influences with elements of Western modernism, experimenting across a range of styles throughout his career. Reflecting on his artistic journey, Hebbar once shared, “From the very beginning of my life as a painter it has been my aim to be able to express my joys and sorrows through colour and line as freely as a child expresses its hunger by crying or its joy through laughter. For this purpose, I had to learn the vocabulary of art and also draw sustenance from the vast treasure accumulated from the past and practiced at present all over the world.” (K K Hebbar, Voyage in Images, Mumbai: Jehangir Art Gallery, 1991)

Hebbar’s solidarity with India’s working classes was reflected in his paintings, where fisherman, farmers, and labours often took centre stage. While some works capture the tranquillity of village life, others reveal his profound concern for those facing hardship, displacement, or poverty, as exemplified in the present lot. As Hebbar explained, “The human figure, and human joy and sorrow, occupied an important place in my compositions. Because of my love for humanity in general and the working-class in particular, I have often chosen subjects depicting the life of the down-trodden and the under-privileged...” (Hebbar, 1991)

The present lot, painted in 1978, marks a significant moment in Hebbar’s career, coinciding with his appointment as President of the Lalit Kala Akademi, Karnataka. During this period, he produced a series of works reflecting his distress over the aftermath of the Bangladesh Liberation War, using contrasting colours and forms. The broader political climate in India was equally turbulent, as the nation had just emerged from the two-year Emergency. As art historian Veena K. Thimmaiah notes, “His meditative images of nature combined with the gravitas of his social conscience displays a breathtaking power of visual analysis.” (Veena K Thimmaiah, “KK Hebbar Beats & Counterbeats”, Hebbar: An Artist’s Quest, Bengaluru: NGMA and KK Hebbar Art Foundation, 2011, p. 20)

This painting exemplifies Hebbar’s exploration of space and form and reveals his engagement with folk art traditions. The intentional absence of linear perspective points to his affinity for Indian modes of pictorial representation. Here, the figures are densely packed within a square block-a compositional strategy Hebbar frequently employed. He associated circular forms with harmony, while angular, block-like shapes suggested conflict and discord. (Thimmaiah, p. 28) At the same time, the work signals the artist’s shift toward greater abstraction during this phase of his practice. Both in execution and concept, Liberation moves beyond narrative depiction to engage with a more intangible theme. Merging abstraction and figuration, the painting balances “the representational, the metaphysical, the suggestive and symbolic,” in pursuit of what Hebbar described as his “inner satisfaction.” (Artist quoted in Thimmaiah, p. 27)

The work is also a fine example of the distinctive oil painting technique Hebbar employed later in his career. He layered coats of paint over a titanium white base (chosen for its opacity and high tinting strength), often scraping away one layer to build up another over it, creating a textured surface typical of many of his works. Artist and critic V R Amberkar notes, “Painting in flat masses easily simulated Indianness but then after seeing the works of modern masters like Matisse and Braque, Hebbar’s paintings became free of chiaroscuro. The shaded portions of his compositions, instead of being merely tonal and graded, now became virtually coloured passages from dark to light and from hard to soft colour orchestration.” (V R Amberkar, “Krishna Hebbar”, Hebbar, New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, p. iii)

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