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“My interest in forms has gone far beyond the dull limitations of subject matter...” - SADANAND BAKRE

Born in Vadodara in 1920, Sadanand Bakre was a founding member of the Progressive Artists’ Group alongside F N Souza, S H Raza, M F Husain, K H Ara, and H A Gade. His background in sculpture emerged from a strong realist tradition that he would later break out of. As a young boy, he found a mentor in Raghunath Phadke who took... “My interest in forms has gone far beyond the dull limitations of subject matter...” - SADANAND BAKRE

Born in Vadodara in 1920, Sadanand Bakre was a founding member of the Progressive Artists’ Group alongside F N Souza, S H Raza, M F Husain, K H Ara, and H A Gade. His background in sculpture emerged from a strong realist tradition that he would later break out of. As a young boy, he found a mentor in Raghunath Phadke who took notice of his talent after seeing Bakre mould objects from discarded bits of clay at his studio in Bombay.

It was at the J J School of Art, Bombay, where Bakre received formal training as a sculptor and first became acquainted with modernism under the tutelage of Charles Garrard, the then head of the institution, and Rudi von Leyden, Emmanuel Schlesinger and Wayne Hartwell who introduced him to modern art in Europe and America. His association with the Progressive Artists’ Group, which sought to form a new artistic vocabulary that acknowledged both Indian art traditions as well as European modernism, acted as a catalyst to his own work. By the late 1940s, he developed a style characterised by “free-flowing form and unconventional shapes”. (Dalmia, pp. 190-191) Observes art historian Yashodhara Dalmia, “Bakre’s strength lay in breaking away from the prevalent academic tradition and constructing images that were emphatically individualistic.” (Yashodhara Dalmia, “The View From the Wings,” The Making of Modern Indian Art, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001, p 186)

In 1951 Bakre was enlisted by Bal Chhabda to paint the sets of his film Do Raha. With the fee from this project, he travelled to London where he began painting on canvases, often exhibiting his works at Hyde Park Corner to make ends meet. Commenting on his constant drive to find a means to express himself, he later said, “I paint as I like. It is a compelling passion with me to keep alive and I cannot help painting or sculpting.” (S K Bakre, “All Art is Either Good or Bad,” Free Press Bulletin, 24 March, 1965) By 1959, his artistic vocabulary had evolved to feature spiky forms and sharp, angular geometric shapes. “These were small triangles wedged into each other to create geometrical shapes that reached out aggressively from all sides. There was an undefinable sense of urgency about them as they disrupted space and created sharp, projecting jolts.” (Dalmia, p. 194)

As seen in the present lot, Bakre’s paintings from this period appear as extensions of his sculptures. Here, interlocked triangular forms emerge from the canvas, imbuing its surface with tension. “The jagged shapes could be made out of industrial waste expressing the tensions of modernism, which an expatriate could experience sharply. On the other hand, these could also echo mythic fantasies, remote but accessible in their mask-like quality. The wonderful balance of forces conveys through entirely abstract means the multiple dynamics of the period. (Dalmia, p. 197) Explaining the significance of the geometric forms, the artist said, “I saw everything mathematically. Everything depended on three parts not four, so it became a spike. Originally it was a trikone (triangle) and then it went on to other things. The number three struck me so when I painted it was three bottles, three trays, if I painted another one it did not give me satisfaction. I don’t know why. It was a geometrical, mathematical phase. I felt the need to do this from some unknown experience of balance.” (The artist in an interview with Yashodhara Dalmia, Murud, October 1992)

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