Important Notice

Lot 42

 

Quick Zoom

Jagdish Swaminath's art was rooted in the quest for a unique vocabulary for modern art that looked inward rather than to the West. To do so, he dedicated himself to the study of Pahari miniatures and ancient totemic symbols that were symbolic of this purity of vision, and represented an attempt to bridge India's aesthetic past with the present.

The most well-regarded in his oeuvre is the famous 'Bird, Mountain, Tree' series where he... Jagdish Swaminath's art was rooted in the quest for a unique vocabulary for modern art that looked inward rather than to the West. To do so, he dedicated himself to the study of Pahari miniatures and ancient totemic symbols that were symbolic of this purity of vision, and represented an attempt to bridge India's aesthetic past with the present.

The most well-regarded in his oeuvre is the famous 'Bird, Mountain, Tree' series where he explored the three titular motifs in varying combinations for over twenty years, producing some of his finest works of art. Works from this series, such as the present lot, were a vehicle for the artist to interrogate concepts of truth and perception, which he believed could only be discovered through pure, meditative representations of nature. For Swaminathan--a deeply spiritual artist-- these canvases were not literal depictions of birds, mountains, and trees, but visual guides to a tranquil existence beyond the struggles of our quotidian lives. In his own words, "...painting was never meant to represent reality in the naturalistic, objective sense, it was the cogent and poetic rendering of an ideal truth in terms of twodimensional space..." (Artist quoted in The Margi and the Desi: Between Tradition and Modernity, New Delhi: Gallery Espace, 2004)

The unique flexibility between form and colour opens up Swaminathan's paintings for multiple interpretations, in which "one confronts a curious dualism. There is assertion, and also submission. There is defiance, and also prayer....there is a homage to the quiet, almost placid splendour of timelessness, of contained animation." (Suren Navlakha, Exhibition of Paintings by J Swaminathan, New Delhi: Dhoomimal Gallery, 1979) This dualism can be seen in the geometric, split toned staircase in the present lot--an object Swaminathan chooses instead of the customary tree motif. Set against a vibrant red, Swaminathan juxtaposes the bold, flat colours of the staircase and birds with mystical imagery of the mountain, producing an effect that is, at once, surreal and introspective.

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