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Lot 111

Born in Indore in 1910, Bendre was one of the most distinguished pioneers of Modern Indian art. As a painter and teacher, he relentlessly experimented with the adaptation of the technical and stylistic innovations that were taking the European art world by storm to Indian themes and subjects. Through his career, he closely followed the development of expressionism, impressionism, cubism, and pointillism, interpreting their teachings to fit his... Born in Indore in 1910, Bendre was one of the most distinguished pioneers of Modern Indian art. As a painter and teacher, he relentlessly experimented with the adaptation of the technical and stylistic innovations that were taking the European art world by storm to Indian themes and subjects. Through his career, he closely followed the development of expressionism, impressionism, cubism, and pointillism, interpreting their teachings to fit his landscapes and tranquil images of rural life in India.

This painting of a mother and child from 1976 is an outstanding reflection of the artist`s experiments with colour and figure in the 1960s and 70s, a period which saw him retiring from his teaching position at M. S. University in Baroda and then moving permanently to Bombay. Returning to figuration after a brief period of abstraction when he painted works inspired by the Cubist canon, Bendre turned his focus to pastoral images of rural women in the throes of their daily tasks. Using a controlled palette and little if any chiaroscuro or perspective, Bendre painted these subjects bathing, weaving, playing music, reading, and looking after their children.

Like most of Bendre`s idyllic vignettes of village women from this period, this oil on board painting doesn`t have much detailing, rather, it is relatively stylized. Bendre takes this minimalism a step further in this piece by eliminating any hint of background detail as well. Focusing his viewer`s full attention on mother and child, as they do on each other, Bendre successfully captures the quiet moment, weighted with the interdependency of the relationship and its signifiers.

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