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lot 13

lot 13

Ganesh Pyne

Vulture

tempera on canvas
21.25 x 15.75 in. (54 x 39.9 cm.)
painted in 1982

Winning Bid: $ 80,000

Estimate: US$ 80,000 - 120,000

Lot Closed

Lot Details

Signed and dated in Bengali (lower left)
Further signed and dated in Bengali (on the reverse)

PROVENANCE
Private collection, Mumbai
Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
Saffronart / Lot 61 / Modern Indian Art / Online Auction / 5-6 December 2018
Private collection, Dubai

Ganesh Pyne began using the opacity of tempera to create dark, monochromatic tones in the 1960s through which, "The painting became a vehicle to convey mood, emotion, atmosphere; and not so much social comment or intellectual ideas. It was a surface on which fleeting flashes or remembered images could be recorded and textures could be created." (Yashodhara Dalmia ed., Contemporary Indian Art Other Realities, Mumbai: Marg Publications, 2002, p. 30)

Deeply molded by his personal history as an artist, Pyne's imagery conveys glimpses to his feelings and intimate musings illustrated in the present lot. Painted in 1982, two years after the death of the artist's older brother, the picture radiates bleakness and sadness prompted by grief and a personal loss that ultimately characterized his works from this period. The vulture, a recurring subject, appeared numerous times on his works oftentimes suffuse in monochromatic tones, alone, and desolate.

Ganesh Pyne

(1937 - 2013)
Born in Kolkata, Pyne graduated from the Government College of Arts and Crafts in 1959. Some of his recent solo shows include those at Galerie 88, Kolkata, in 2005 and 1990; the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, in 2000; and Village Gallery, New Delhi, in 1994 and 1991. Pyne has also had retrospective exhibitions organized by Galerie 88 in Mumbai, in 2005 and 2000; and by the Center of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata, in 1998. He has participated in the International Festival of Art, Cagnes-sur-Mer, in 1975; the Paris Biennale, in 1970; ‘Exhibition in Aid of the Menuhin School of Music’ at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1970; and the Indian International Triennale, New Delhi, in 1968-71. His work has been featured in several group shows, including ‘Bharat Ratna!’ at the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, in 2009; ‘Progressive to Altermodern’ at Grosvenor Gallery, London, in 2009; ‘Image Beyond Image’ at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi and Mumbai, and Karnataka Chitrakala Parishad, Bangalore, in 1997; ‘Wounds’ at CIMA, Kolkata, in 1993; the Hirschorn Museum, Washington D.C., in 1982; and ‘Festival of India’ at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 1982. The Government of West Bengal awarded him the Abainindra Puraskar in 2004. Pyne passed away in Kolkata in 2013.