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The notional philosophical symbolism of colour and colossal gratitude to nature are integral elements of Sufi mysticism. Some mystics also believed that colour was a constant in all worlds and that every creature is composed of light and colour. As also discussed by writer Ina Puri, a fragment of Sufi spirituality, enhanced with the rhythm of music and poetry, breathed heavily on the serene works of Manjit Bawa who made a conscious choice of not... The notional philosophical symbolism of colour and colossal gratitude to nature are integral elements of Sufi mysticism. Some mystics also believed that colour was a constant in all worlds and that every creature is composed of light and colour. As also discussed by writer Ina Puri, a fragment of Sufi spirituality, enhanced with the rhythm of music and poetry, breathed heavily on the serene works of Manjit Bawa who made a conscious choice of not conforming to any art movements of the time, and only to immerse himself into churning out an honest and individual artistic expression.

Born in 1941, Dhurin, Punjab, Bawa owed his education in art from the College of Art, New Delhi, to his elder brother Manmohan who ushered him into pursuing painting. Manmohan was a commercial artist at the American Consulate and brought home several assignments that young Bawa learnt from. During his time at college, Bawa developed deep value for the teachings of his artist mentors, Abani Sen (fondly referred to as ‘master moshai’) and Rajesh Mitra, and often reminisced their guidance during interviews later in his life.

Bawa’s conviction towards painting was unconvinced of the artificiality of academic arrangement turning to figuration as advised by Abani Sen. Unlike most figurative works that are engulfed in narrative, “there is a certain bonelessness, a pneumatic quality to Manjit’s figure which echoes both folk Pahari painting and the tantric frescoes of Himalayan Buddhism. Only the shadow of time intervenes: we are transported into a seemingly pastoral landscape, where the sublime and the risque, the lyrical and the grotesque set up a strange tableau with the figure as the harlequin (not the harlequin as the figure). What is representational in Picasso becomes enigmatic, what is majestic in Husain becomes clownish (who but the jester may cock a snook at the mighty), what is demonstrative in Souza becomes epileptic and what is petrified in Tyeb becomes liquid and sparkling in Manjit.” (J Swaminathan, “Dogs Too Keep Night Watch,” Manjit Bawa: Let’s Paint the Sky Red, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2011, p. 36)

The significance of Bawa’s paintings which were removed of any intellectual pretension was noticed, as early as 1977, by Geeta Kapur in one of her earliest curated shows titled Pictorial Space. She aptly describes, “Manjit paints great expanses of colour with forms that are non-representational but with certain image-associations - rubbery limbs for most part - left floating in a fluorescent colour which though flat, is subtly tinted and holds up the forms, limp or aggressive, like the diaphanous, bright-hued tent of the sky holds up cloud formations.” (S Kalidas, “Let’s Paint The Sky Red: Remembering Manjit Bawa in Art and in Life,” p. 12)

Based loosely on Indian mythology, Sufi philosophy, and Sikh oral traditions he delineated his belief in the potency of the relationship between man, animal, and nature, featuring birds and animals consistently, as also seen in the present lot. A quadriptych composed of crows from different vantage points, against a void of flat hues of orange and red, the present lot resounds immediately with Bawa’s statement, “Cow, bulls, goats are an integral part of the Indian metropolis. And there is no getting away from the Indian crow. It is omnipresent.” (Ina Puri, “The Indian Crow in Post Modern Skies,” Manjit Bawa, Mumbai: Sakshi Gallery, 2005) Birds generally accompany Bawa’s tubular figures, making the present lot one of the rare exceptions where precedence is given to a lonesome crow making it emblematic of endless interpretations, within and outside of Indian culture.

What makes for the colourist, luminous and beguiling pictures by Bawa are his insightful observations that effortlessly translate onto his canvas. The vibrant treatment of colours is plucked from his surroundings and the grace of nature, first, and second as a practice inculcated while working as a silkscreen printer in Britain between 1964 and 1971. The moments of inspiration are preserved in his recollections- “As a college student I visited Sohna once and seen the most incredible sight. The sun was setting and in that fiery sunset, the rocks glowed red and the gulmohar blossoms appeared a deeper red I was spellbound. In retrospect, that was when I first began using red in my paintings...Similarly the vistas of our mustard fields, the bright cadmium yellow flowers ‘sarson’ (mustard), the paddy green, the deep blue water of the Beas” (Ina Puri, 2005)

Bawa’s process is worth noting, he never destroyed any of his drawings and sketches, and instead employed them as studies that he would improve after constant meditation, into a pictorial reality of its own. His process thus involved understanding drawing as a critically important structure which he then traced onto a developed work. Bawa further confesses to being so immersed in the process that he often solved his pictorial problems in his subconscious mind, in his dreams, comparing himself to a musician who rigorously practises musical notes in order to perfect them.

Embedded in philosophy, music, poetry, and most of all compassion, these meditative pictorial dreams are custodians of “Manjit’s world, somewhat like that of Alice, inconsequential, menacing, inexplicable yet inexorable.” (S Kalidas, “Let’s Paint The Sky Red: Remembering Manjit Bawa in Art and in Life,” p. 17)

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