Important Notice

Sabavala’s initial foray into art began with impressionism in the early 1950s. He created this oil on canvas in 1949: he was enrolled to study impressionism at the Academie Julian in Paris. During this period he painted a series of nudes with an impressionistic eye for light and colour. The human body was of cynosural importance in the mind of Sabavala, and he expresses his opinion quite strongly on the subject: “A painter who cannot paint a... Sabavala’s initial foray into art began with impressionism in the early 1950s. He created this oil on canvas in 1949: he was enrolled to study impressionism at the Academie Julian in Paris. During this period he painted a series of nudes with an impressionistic eye for light and colour. The human body was of cynosural importance in the mind of Sabavala, and he expresses his opinion quite strongly on the subject: “A painter who cannot paint a nude cannot paint a landscape.” (Ranjit Hoskote, qtd. in “Apprentice to a Tradition”, The Crucible of Painting: The Art of Jehangir Sabavala, Mumbai: Eminence Designs Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, 2005, p43)

As part of his study of the human form, Sabavala had made a number of charcoal and pencil sketches on paper between 1946-1948, letting the viewer witness his process of constructing the human form. Sabavala dedicates his canvas to the lithe body, the cynosure of the work, employing a palette of colours to draw the viewer’s attention to the contours and overall form, a nascent eroticism that evokes desire in the viewer. The face features partially; the expressions are unclear. Along with the openness of the form, a vulnerability seeps in: “...landscape of feeling, this first habitat of desires and vulnerabilities as a microcosm of the earth...” (Ibid)

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