Modern India
1955 The Venus of Hampstead
2015 SOLD for $ 4.1M including premium
In London since 1949, Francis Newton Souza draws and paints grotesque portraits. While Bacon is inspired by Velazquez, Souza sees Titian. An oil on canvas 122 x 104 cm painted in 1955 entitled Titian's grandfather was sold for Rs 2.25 crore including premium by Saffronart on December 6, 2007.
In the same year, the most important work by Souza is titled Birth. This oil on panel 122 x 244 cm is estimated $ 2.2M, for sale byChristie's in New York on September 17, lot 709.
The anti-religious concern of the artist at that time enables to interpret this scene as a pastiche of the Christian Nativity. The atmosphere of the apartment is dark like a barn but the urban landscape of Hampstead where Souza then tried to live is visible through a structure resembling the stained glass windows of a church.
The pregnant woman is nude. Her hemispherical belly is close to the explosion. The bearded man in liturgical garments on the left of the image does not care for her. She is not appealing. He is the image of sin, or perhaps a self-portrait. The focal point of Souza against the Christian religion is the hypocrisy of redemption. The texture of the naked body is a cracked indecipherable graffiti which adds to the abjection of the scene, anticipating Twombly.
Critics see Manet's Olympia as a model for this woman by Souza. I would instead be tempted to recognize the Venus of Urbino, a symbol of fertility and thus indirectly of sin painted by Titian, one of the top Christian artists.
In the same year, the most important work by Souza is titled Birth. This oil on panel 122 x 244 cm is estimated $ 2.2M, for sale byChristie's in New York on September 17, lot 709.
The anti-religious concern of the artist at that time enables to interpret this scene as a pastiche of the Christian Nativity. The atmosphere of the apartment is dark like a barn but the urban landscape of Hampstead where Souza then tried to live is visible through a structure resembling the stained glass windows of a church.
The pregnant woman is nude. Her hemispherical belly is close to the explosion. The bearded man in liturgical garments on the left of the image does not care for her. She is not appealing. He is the image of sin, or perhaps a self-portrait. The focal point of Souza against the Christian religion is the hypocrisy of redemption. The texture of the naked body is a cracked indecipherable graffiti which adds to the abjection of the scene, anticipating Twombly.
Critics see Manet's Olympia as a model for this woman by Souza. I would instead be tempted to recognize the Venus of Urbino, a symbol of fertility and thus indirectly of sin painted by Titian, one of the top Christian artists.
1972 The Landscape of the Night
2018 SOLD for $ 4.45M including premium
The son of a forest ranger, Syed Haider Raza will keep throughout his life the impression of the promise of dawn, a transition between the terror of the night and the bright colors of the day. The landscapes of his early career are not located, mixing the feelings of his native Madhya Pradesh and of Provence with hills, villages and horizons. The explosion of colors already dominates the shapes.
Raza expresses the mystery of the soil, like Pollock. In the early 1970s he dares to address the dangers of the night. On March 21 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 222 Tapovan, acrylic on canvas 160 x 189 cm painted in 1972.
Tapovan is a Sanskrit word used in yoga, mixing the ideas of meditation and forest. Glowing red areas and bright yellow sparks dot the night scene. A careful inspection suggests the appearance of faces within flames and embers, not without evoking the expressive schematization of his fellow F.N. Souza.
If this interpretation is correct, it is exceptionally rare in Raza's usually dehumanized art and brings Tapovan closer to the primordial questions of the wild tribes and of Gauguin : D'où venons-nous ? Qui sommes-nous ? Où allons-nous ? And also : who are these spirits of the night ?
La Terre, acrylic on canvas 189 x 189 cm painted in the following year, is also an explosion of lights in the night but nearer to full abstraction. It was sold for $ 3.1M including premium by Christie's on March 18, 2014.
Raza will soon find an answer to this anxiety. An admirer of Rothko, he will systematize the inclusion of his abstract forms into a structure which in his case begins as a window. He abandons the night but not the ground and gives in the later phases of his career the main role to the essential form, the bindu.
Tapovan had been sold for $ 1.47M including premium by Sotheby's on March 29, 2006.
Raza expresses the mystery of the soil, like Pollock. In the early 1970s he dares to address the dangers of the night. On March 21 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 222 Tapovan, acrylic on canvas 160 x 189 cm painted in 1972.
Tapovan is a Sanskrit word used in yoga, mixing the ideas of meditation and forest. Glowing red areas and bright yellow sparks dot the night scene. A careful inspection suggests the appearance of faces within flames and embers, not without evoking the expressive schematization of his fellow F.N. Souza.
If this interpretation is correct, it is exceptionally rare in Raza's usually dehumanized art and brings Tapovan closer to the primordial questions of the wild tribes and of Gauguin : D'où venons-nous ? Qui sommes-nous ? Où allons-nous ? And also : who are these spirits of the night ?
La Terre, acrylic on canvas 189 x 189 cm painted in the following year, is also an explosion of lights in the night but nearer to full abstraction. It was sold for $ 3.1M including premium by Christie's on March 18, 2014.
Raza will soon find an answer to this anxiety. An admirer of Rothko, he will systematize the inclusion of his abstract forms into a structure which in his case begins as a window. He abandons the night but not the ground and gives in the later phases of his career the main role to the essential form, the bindu.
Tapovan had been sold for $ 1.47M including premium by Sotheby's on March 29, 2006.
1973 The Essential Earth of Raza
2014 SOLD 3.1 M$ including premium
The essential theme of Raza is Earth, which interacts with mankind while transcending the physical and mystical forces. In an early phase he is a landscape painter. The light of dawn playing behind the hills to illuminate the village fascinates him. Gradually the trace of man is no longer useful.
The bright lights of the transition between night and day are not enough to express his philosophical quest. Joining Pollock, his actual subject is the proper life of the soil.
On March 18 in New York, Christie's sells a large acrylic on canvas, 189 x 189 cm, entitled La Terre.
Painted in 1973, this work did not yet open the great transition of the art of Raza. Rather, it is the ultimate culmination of his landscapes becoming totally abstract while keeping the memory of the sparkling dawn.
Later, Raza discovered how geometry can express the energy. He will forget the night, and his colors become clearer. His quest will more rely upon the principles of Hindu philosophy. The Earth as the unique support of our relationship with the universe remains however implicit in his work.
The 1973 version of La Terre had been sold for £ 1.27 million including premium at Christie's on 30 June 2008, which is still now one of the highest prices recorded at auction for Raza.
POST SALE COMMENT
The art of Raza is better understood today than six years ago. This version of La Terre is outstanding in the evolution of his quest. It was sold for $ 3.1 million including premium.
The bright lights of the transition between night and day are not enough to express his philosophical quest. Joining Pollock, his actual subject is the proper life of the soil.
On March 18 in New York, Christie's sells a large acrylic on canvas, 189 x 189 cm, entitled La Terre.
Painted in 1973, this work did not yet open the great transition of the art of Raza. Rather, it is the ultimate culmination of his landscapes becoming totally abstract while keeping the memory of the sparkling dawn.
Later, Raza discovered how geometry can express the energy. He will forget the night, and his colors become clearer. His quest will more rely upon the principles of Hindu philosophy. The Earth as the unique support of our relationship with the universe remains however implicit in his work.
The 1973 version of La Terre had been sold for £ 1.27 million including premium at Christie's on 30 June 2008, which is still now one of the highest prices recorded at auction for Raza.
POST SALE COMMENT
The art of Raza is better understood today than six years ago. This version of La Terre is outstanding in the evolution of his quest. It was sold for $ 3.1 million including premium.
1979 The Abstract Zen of VS Gaitonde
2013 SOLD for INR 23.7 crores (worth US $ 3.8M) including premium
VS Gaitonde was a quiet man. Art is a process to communicate to the world the images created in his inner self bathed within the principles of Buddhist Zen.
The oil on canvas is his preferred technique, but the use he makes of it is complex. In the following of abstract expressionism, he creates illusions of shapes and textures by varying the application of layers of paint on the surface of the canvas.
Perfectionist, he does not leave his work until he is absolutely satisfied with the result, which requires a long approach to perfection. His art is rare.
In the 1960s, the subconscious of Gaitonde generates imaginary landscapes too close to abstraction for inviting to an identification. A good example made in 1969 was previously discussed in this column. This painting 152 x 101 cm was sold for $ 960K including premium by Christie's on September 12, 2012.
On December 19 in Mumbai, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 153 x 102 cm, estimated INR 65M. Here is the link to the catalog.
Dated 1979, this painting marks an abandonment of the illusion of landscape in favor of a sort of calligraphy that will become sharper, and therefore less mesmerizing, in his later career. The choice of color is somptuous between gold and brown.
Gaitonde liked to live in seclusion. His art is not sufficiently recognized internationally. However, he expresses the relationship of man and ground as Pollock did, he translates the subtlety of his inner self like Zao Wou-ki, he captures the emotion of the viewer like Rothko and his technique anticipates the squeegee of Richter.
POST SALE COMMENT
This sumptuous abstract painting by Gaitonde is also a key work in the development of his art. It was sold for Rs 23.7 crore including premium, equivalent to U.S. $ 3.8 M.
The oil on canvas is his preferred technique, but the use he makes of it is complex. In the following of abstract expressionism, he creates illusions of shapes and textures by varying the application of layers of paint on the surface of the canvas.
Perfectionist, he does not leave his work until he is absolutely satisfied with the result, which requires a long approach to perfection. His art is rare.
In the 1960s, the subconscious of Gaitonde generates imaginary landscapes too close to abstraction for inviting to an identification. A good example made in 1969 was previously discussed in this column. This painting 152 x 101 cm was sold for $ 960K including premium by Christie's on September 12, 2012.
On December 19 in Mumbai, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 153 x 102 cm, estimated INR 65M. Here is the link to the catalog.
Dated 1979, this painting marks an abandonment of the illusion of landscape in favor of a sort of calligraphy that will become sharper, and therefore less mesmerizing, in his later career. The choice of color is somptuous between gold and brown.
Gaitonde liked to live in seclusion. His art is not sufficiently recognized internationally. However, he expresses the relationship of man and ground as Pollock did, he translates the subtlety of his inner self like Zao Wou-ki, he captures the emotion of the viewer like Rothko and his technique anticipates the squeegee of Richter.
POST SALE COMMENT
This sumptuous abstract painting by Gaitonde is also a key work in the development of his art. It was sold for Rs 23.7 crore including premium, equivalent to U.S. $ 3.8 M.
1982 The Rhythm of Silence
2019 SOLD for INR 26.3 crores (worth US $ 3.7M) including premium
V.S. Gaitonde returned from New York in 1965 after a long stay during which he had met Rothko in his studio. He develops his own way by gradually eliminating all superfluous elements for his expressionist interpretation of nature.
He thus removes the contours of forms, the pseudo-calligraphic and symbolic signs, the illusions of perspective. Oil on canvas becomes his only technique. The artwork becomes monochrome in an immutable vertical format. Yet each opus is different from the previous one, in a search for continuous improvement that rejects chance and feelings.
After a superposition of transparent layers of which the artist has not revealed the detailed process, the roller, the brush and the knife create variations of brilliance in a global geometric balance. Gaitonde seeks, in his own words, the absorption of silences, bringing a visual musicality. He observes a similarity of his approach to Buddhist Zen which considers that the open space must be filled by the mind.
After the patient meditation and the quick execution, the third and final phase is contemplation. If the musicality of silence suits the artist, he keeps the work in his studio for a possible public use. If not, he scraps it. And he starts again with a new canvas.
All these features converge in a 153 x 102 cm oil on canvas painted in 1979, sold for INR 23.7 crores including premium by Christie's on December 19, 2013.
An oil on canvas of the same dimensions painted in 1982 belongs to the same phase of the career of the artist. It was sold by Pundole's on April 9, 2015 for INR 16.5 crores, a figure that probably does not include the premium. It is estimated INR 20 crores worth US $ 2.9M for sale by Saffronart in New Delhi on September 12, lot 12.
He thus removes the contours of forms, the pseudo-calligraphic and symbolic signs, the illusions of perspective. Oil on canvas becomes his only technique. The artwork becomes monochrome in an immutable vertical format. Yet each opus is different from the previous one, in a search for continuous improvement that rejects chance and feelings.
After a superposition of transparent layers of which the artist has not revealed the detailed process, the roller, the brush and the knife create variations of brilliance in a global geometric balance. Gaitonde seeks, in his own words, the absorption of silences, bringing a visual musicality. He observes a similarity of his approach to Buddhist Zen which considers that the open space must be filled by the mind.
After the patient meditation and the quick execution, the third and final phase is contemplation. If the musicality of silence suits the artist, he keeps the work in his studio for a possible public use. If not, he scraps it. And he starts again with a new canvas.
All these features converge in a 153 x 102 cm oil on canvas painted in 1979, sold for INR 23.7 crores including premium by Christie's on December 19, 2013.
An oil on canvas of the same dimensions painted in 1982 belongs to the same phase of the career of the artist. It was sold by Pundole's on April 9, 2015 for INR 16.5 crores, a figure that probably does not include the premium. It is estimated INR 20 crores worth US $ 2.9M for sale by Saffronart in New Delhi on September 12, lot 12.
1989 The Dark Blue Goddess
2018 SOLD for US $ 4M (worth INR 26.4 crores) including premium
Artist in residence at Santiniketan, Tyeb Mehta found his sources. His diaphanous characters become reincarnations of Hindu goddesses whose morphology and powers are unlimited.
The young Durga inspires him. Painted in 1984, a two-headed figure with four arms sitting peacefully next to a cut bull's head was sold for INR 17.8 crores including premium by AstaGuru on August 23, 2017.
Back in Mumbai he began a new phase of his career, gradually integrating in bright colors the extreme violence deployed to overcome evil by the two emanations of Parvati, Kali and Durga.
The image of Kali with a blue skin is recognizable by any connoisseur of Hindu mythology. An oil on canvas 170 x 137 cm painted in 1989 was sold for INR 3.95 crores worth US $ 990K including premium by Saffronart on June 7, 2007, a very high price for this artist at that time. It is estimated US $ 3M worth INR 19.8 crores on June 14 by the same auction house online from Mumbai, lot 33.
The goddess with a Prussian blue skin is standing in an attitude of extreme physical strength, legs apart ready for fight. Another body appears as a defeated victim while a pure white hand reaches her fertile belly, symbol of her role of rebirth after destruction. Kali was so strong that she once trampled the good god Shiva. The scarlet red hanging tongue expresses her shame after this awkwardness.
Tyeb Mehta painted very few Kali figures in full length. He will prefer the epic brawl of Durga with the demon Mahishasura.
The young Durga inspires him. Painted in 1984, a two-headed figure with four arms sitting peacefully next to a cut bull's head was sold for INR 17.8 crores including premium by AstaGuru on August 23, 2017.
Back in Mumbai he began a new phase of his career, gradually integrating in bright colors the extreme violence deployed to overcome evil by the two emanations of Parvati, Kali and Durga.
The image of Kali with a blue skin is recognizable by any connoisseur of Hindu mythology. An oil on canvas 170 x 137 cm painted in 1989 was sold for INR 3.95 crores worth US $ 990K including premium by Saffronart on June 7, 2007, a very high price for this artist at that time. It is estimated US $ 3M worth INR 19.8 crores on June 14 by the same auction house online from Mumbai, lot 33.
The goddess with a Prussian blue skin is standing in an attitude of extreme physical strength, legs apart ready for fight. Another body appears as a defeated victim while a pure white hand reaches her fertile belly, symbol of her role of rebirth after destruction. Kali was so strong that she once trampled the good god Shiva. The scarlet red hanging tongue expresses her shame after this awkwardness.
Tyeb Mehta painted very few Kali figures in full length. He will prefer the epic brawl of Durga with the demon Mahishasura.
1994 The Modern Mythology of Tyeb Mehta
2013 SOLD for INR 19.8 crores (worth US $ 3.2M) including premium
In 2009, less than three months after the death of the artist, Christie's sold for $ 1.28 million including premium a painting by Mehta on the theme of Mahishasura. This artwork is now listed in the inaugural auction by Christie's in Mumbai on December 19. The estimate, INR 75M, is consistent with the previous result.
I republish below my post from 2009 :
Tyeb Mehta died on July 2, aged 84. In the last twenty years, his main theme was the human figure unbalanced against its surroundings. Gradually, his works have become stronger, with an increased simplification, strident colors and the loss of vertical marks.
I previously discussed here a masterpiece of 2003, Fallen Figure with Bird. This acrylic on canvas, 182 x 149 cm, was sold for $ 1.5 million including premium by Sotheby's on 18 September 2008.
The Indian mythology provides examples of the struggle of man and beast, and the episode of the warrior goddess Durga killing the buffalo demon Mahisha has repeatedly inspired Mehta. The struggle of these two mythical beings is a suitable theme for representing an imbalance of tangled bodies.
On September 16, 2009 in New York, Christie's sells one of these "Mahishasura". Dated 1994, 150 x 120 cm, this acrylic on canvas pioneers the use of color to exacerbate violence. Both characters, human and monster, have the mouth wide open in their heroic effort. The estimate, $ 600 K, is reasonable.
This work has already gone through Christie's. It was sold $ 107 K in 2002, including premium. Contemporary art is so: an unknown artist becomes a star in a few years. Mehta was fortunate that the success came to him during his lifetime.
Additional information: a Mahishasura of same size painted in 1996 was sold for £ 1.38 million including premium at Christie's on 11 June 2012.
POST SALE COMMENT
Tyeb Mehta was a master of modern Indian art and this painting is remarkable for its strength. It was sold for Rs 19.8 crore including premium, corresponding to U.S. $ 3.2 million, far beyond the result obtained by the same auction house in New York in 2009.
I republish below my post from 2009 :
Tyeb Mehta died on July 2, aged 84. In the last twenty years, his main theme was the human figure unbalanced against its surroundings. Gradually, his works have become stronger, with an increased simplification, strident colors and the loss of vertical marks.
I previously discussed here a masterpiece of 2003, Fallen Figure with Bird. This acrylic on canvas, 182 x 149 cm, was sold for $ 1.5 million including premium by Sotheby's on 18 September 2008.
The Indian mythology provides examples of the struggle of man and beast, and the episode of the warrior goddess Durga killing the buffalo demon Mahisha has repeatedly inspired Mehta. The struggle of these two mythical beings is a suitable theme for representing an imbalance of tangled bodies.
On September 16, 2009 in New York, Christie's sells one of these "Mahishasura". Dated 1994, 150 x 120 cm, this acrylic on canvas pioneers the use of color to exacerbate violence. Both characters, human and monster, have the mouth wide open in their heroic effort. The estimate, $ 600 K, is reasonable.
This work has already gone through Christie's. It was sold $ 107 K in 2002, including premium. Contemporary art is so: an unknown artist becomes a star in a few years. Mehta was fortunate that the success came to him during his lifetime.
Additional information: a Mahishasura of same size painted in 1996 was sold for £ 1.38 million including premium at Christie's on 11 June 2012.
POST SALE COMMENT
Tyeb Mehta was a master of modern Indian art and this painting is remarkable for its strength. It was sold for Rs 19.8 crore including premium, corresponding to U.S. $ 3.2 million, far beyond the result obtained by the same auction house in New York in 2009.
1995 The Intangible Glimmer of VS Gaitonde
2015 SOLD for INR 29.3 crores (worth US $ 4.4M) including premium
The artistic career of Vasudeo S. Gaitonde is a meticulous progress towards the light. Originally inspired by Rothko, the artist covers his paintings with a luminous paint often interrupted by darker expressions that may evoke some perspective.
Gaitonde is a Zen artist who favors meditation and works slowly. The rarity of his art, just over five paintings a year, has probably slowed the spread of his reputation.
On December 15 in Mumbai, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 140 x 102 cm, lot 25 estimated Rs 12 crore equivalent to US $ 1.8M. This painting is dated 1995. Gaitonde was 71 years old, and this picture is typical of the magnificent culmination of his research.
The color between ochre and gold has become almost monochrome. It plays with light by the effects of glimmer, reflection and texture. The canvas is scattered with regular horizontal lines and with non semiotic closed figures whose role is to diffuse the viewer's attention into the entire surface. Like for Rothko, the best works by Gaitonde can hardly be understood by the inspection of a photograph.
This late work entirely made of light and texture anticipates by over ten years the quest of the younger monochromists like Tauba Auerbach or Rudolf Stingel.
Gaitonde is a Zen artist who favors meditation and works slowly. The rarity of his art, just over five paintings a year, has probably slowed the spread of his reputation.
On December 15 in Mumbai, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 140 x 102 cm, lot 25 estimated Rs 12 crore equivalent to US $ 1.8M. This painting is dated 1995. Gaitonde was 71 years old, and this picture is typical of the magnificent culmination of his research.
The color between ochre and gold has become almost monochrome. It plays with light by the effects of glimmer, reflection and texture. The canvas is scattered with regular horizontal lines and with non semiotic closed figures whose role is to diffuse the viewer's attention into the entire surface. Like for Rothko, the best works by Gaitonde can hardly be understood by the inspection of a photograph.
This late work entirely made of light and texture anticipates by over ten years the quest of the younger monochromists like Tauba Auerbach or Rudolf Stingel.
1996 The Ultimate Embers of V.S. Gaitonde
2017 SOLD for $ 4.1M including premium
The art of V.S. Gaitonde is a hyperbolic approach to his passion. Like Zao Wou-Ki and Matta he went to use the abstraction to express his feeling of the sublime. The forms play over colors like the music over silence.
The oil on canvas is his unique technique throughout this course of almost half a century. Over time his mastery of texture and light becomes total. The artworks have no title because the psychology of each person is unique. Gaitonde does not try to be understood or to train disciples but those who will imitate him will certainly reach a nirvana.
Yellow is powerful and dazzling. A gold and ochre composition 140 x 102 cm inhabited by geometric shapes without apparent meaning was sold on December 15, 2015 by Christie's for INR 29.3 crores including premium worth US $ 4.4M. Painted in 1995 it is an example of the perfectionist creativity of his later career.
On September 13 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas of the same size painted in 1996 which is perhaps the ultimate masterpiece by Gaitonde, finally releasing his inner incandescence patiently retained by his Zen.
This composition appears as a continuation to the 1995 painting. The vermilion background reveals the inner fire and the geometric forms arise like yellow and orange embers. It is estimated $ 2,8M, lot 414.
The oil on canvas is his unique technique throughout this course of almost half a century. Over time his mastery of texture and light becomes total. The artworks have no title because the psychology of each person is unique. Gaitonde does not try to be understood or to train disciples but those who will imitate him will certainly reach a nirvana.
Yellow is powerful and dazzling. A gold and ochre composition 140 x 102 cm inhabited by geometric shapes without apparent meaning was sold on December 15, 2015 by Christie's for INR 29.3 crores including premium worth US $ 4.4M. Painted in 1995 it is an example of the perfectionist creativity of his later career.
On September 13 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas of the same size painted in 1996 which is perhaps the ultimate masterpiece by Gaitonde, finally releasing his inner incandescence patiently retained by his Zen.
This composition appears as a continuation to the 1995 painting. The vermilion background reveals the inner fire and the geometric forms arise like yellow and orange embers. It is estimated $ 2,8M, lot 414.
2000 The Fall of the Fat Ox
2018 SOLD for INR 20 crores (worth US$ 3.2M) including premium
An untitled canvas 183 x 152 cm painted by Tyeb Mehta in 2000 was sold for $ 2.3M including premium by Christie's on March 18, 2014, lot 230. It had been discussed in this column before the sale.
It is estimated INR 14 crores worth US $ 2.26M by AstaGuru online from Mumbai, lot 41 closing on March 27. Here is the link to the website of the auction house.
This artwork brings together the two preferred themes of the artist, the bull and the fall.
Disgusted in his youth by the death of oxen in the slaughterhouses, Mehta takes the bovine as the symbol of the vanity of the mankind, from the tortured innocence to the most crazy violence for which the beast takes the features of the demon-buffalo Mahishasura in fight with Durga.
More recent in his art the theme of the fall appears in the late 1980s. A bull or bird is tightly entwined with a human being in a hopeless weightlessness.
In the painting coming for sale the bovine is fat and strangely peaceful, upturned body and four legs upwards. It has no eyes, as blind as the cut head placed in front of Durga in other compositions. A leg and the tail are interchanged. Two hands coming out from below are the only human attributes in this almost invisible embrace.
In this wide range of behaviors the fate for butchery becomes dominant at the end of the artist's career. A diptych made in 2005/2007 displays in each 198 x 152 cm element the silhouette of a beef cut in three pieces. It was sold for $ 2.8M including premium by Christie's on March 23, 2011.
It is estimated INR 14 crores worth US $ 2.26M by AstaGuru online from Mumbai, lot 41 closing on March 27. Here is the link to the website of the auction house.
This artwork brings together the two preferred themes of the artist, the bull and the fall.
Disgusted in his youth by the death of oxen in the slaughterhouses, Mehta takes the bovine as the symbol of the vanity of the mankind, from the tortured innocence to the most crazy violence for which the beast takes the features of the demon-buffalo Mahishasura in fight with Durga.
More recent in his art the theme of the fall appears in the late 1980s. A bull or bird is tightly entwined with a human being in a hopeless weightlessness.
In the painting coming for sale the bovine is fat and strangely peaceful, upturned body and four legs upwards. It has no eyes, as blind as the cut head placed in front of Durga in other compositions. A leg and the tail are interchanged. Two hands coming out from below are the only human attributes in this almost invisible embrace.
In this wide range of behaviors the fate for butchery becomes dominant at the end of the artist's career. A diptych made in 2005/2007 displays in each 198 x 152 cm element the silhouette of a beef cut in three pieces. It was sold for $ 2.8M including premium by Christie's on March 23, 2011.
