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Lot 28

 

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Born in Kolkata in 1937, Ganesh Pyne joined the Government College of Art and Craft in 1959 where he honed his skills as an artist and draughtsman. He found inspiration in various sources, including theatre, 20th-century European cinema masters such as Bergman and Fellini, poetry, music, religious epics and folklore. He was also profoundly affected by the horrors of the Partition that he witnessed as a young boy and drew on these experiences to... Born in Kolkata in 1937, Ganesh Pyne joined the Government College of Art and Craft in 1959 where he honed his skills as an artist and draughtsman. He found inspiration in various sources, including theatre, 20th-century European cinema masters such as Bergman and Fellini, poetry, music, religious epics and folklore. He was also profoundly affected by the horrors of the Partition that he witnessed as a young boy and drew on these experiences to create work that was deeply personal and emotive.

The influences of Bengal School pioneers such as Abanindranath and Gaganendranath Tagore can be seen across Pyne’s works. “He holds Abanindranath’s wistful sense of evanescence in sharp counterpoint with a tough surrealism, in part from their uncle, Rabindranath...We ought to register the persistence of Gaganendranath Tagore’s lyrical adaptation of Cubism in Pyne’s play of light and shadow.” (Ranjit Hoskote, “A Pilgrim in the Dominion of Shadows: Reflections on the Art of Ganesh Pyne,” Ganesh Pyne: A Pilgrim in the Dominion of Shadows, Kolkata: Galerie 88, 2005, p. 10) The artist was also captivated by Dutch artist Rembrandt and noted that he was “mesmerised by the light that radiated from his canvas, and also his prints. I am thinking about the divine light of the crucifixion, flooding the paper— which he created by maximising his use of the white paper.” (“Ganesh Pyne in Conversation With Sona Datta,” Rob Dean, Giles Tillotson eds., Modern Indian Painting: Jane & Kito de Boer Collection, Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing Pvt Ltd, 2019, p. 207)

The present lots are among Pyne’s early works. Though he used to primarily paint in watercolour, he also explored mediums such as ink and wash, and gouache. Lot 29, a gouache titled Baul, painted in 1959, depicts a Bengali mystic minstrel standing by a river. The painting alludes to the transition his colour palette would make later on in his career, “from the delicate palette and fine brushwork that he exhibited in his early watercolours, to the robust forms and the deep browns and blues of his later work.” (Hoskote, p. 10)

Two Friends (lot 28), painted in 1963, offers a glimpse of a scene that Pyne likely witnessed at the famous Calcutta Coffee house, located a few steps away from his family home, which was frequented by students and filled with political debate. “This is a highly expressionist work, which had bearing on Calcutta life. It shows two young men sitting across a table with cups of coffee and smoking cigarettes. The smoke spirals upwards. Pyne’s exquisite blue heightens the sense of poignancy…The atmosphere was young, effervescent and charged. Students with little money spent hours debating the politics of the nation, and especially the state of Bengal, stretching a few cups of coffee between friends over many hours.” (Dean, Tillotson eds., p. 210)

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