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Lot Essay
As a child, Ganesh Pyne lived in an old mansion in Calcutta. His grandmother would tell him stories igniting an imagination that would later inspire him to paint masterful pieces of mysticism and fantasy.
From these childhood experiences and stories, Pyne creates visual narratives of monkeys as princes, talking grasshoppers, and boy magicians. The monkey named Bir Bahadur, which means 'master of all things' in Bengali, shown in courtier's robes but loosely harnessed by a rope, began life as Emperor Akbar's pet monkey. His wide grin and eager eyes suggests his bondage is due to mischievous behavior. It is only through the result of Pyne's technique of building up paint in washes, glazing them so that each successive layer allows the one beneath to breathe through it, that one can imagine such a world. In the next work, Pyne recalls being spellbound by the beauty of a small temple that stood in front of his ancestral home in Kaviraj Row. The destruction of the icon may have inspired this work. The entrance way of the shrine affords a view of a somber space allowing the viewer to imagine the next narrative. Pyne creates a visual world where immagination is encouraged.
Preparatory drawings of both works are shown--Untitled (Bir Bahadur) in charcoal and Untitled (Shrines) in mixed media. Pyne observes: "In earlier days, the idea would come to my mind first. Then I would search for forms, sketching and sketching. Now, the store of my mind has become richer, with age. When I sit down with my paper, I make 'jottings', which are preparatory work. I make different versions of an image, and then translate the one that I like best into tempera on canvas." (Artist Statement, Ganesh Pyne: A Pilgrim in the Dominion of Shadows, The Museum Gallery, Mumbai, 2005, p. 14)
From these childhood experiences and stories, Pyne creates visual narratives of monkeys as princes, talking grasshoppers, and boy magicians. The monkey named Bir Bahadur, which means 'master of all things' in Bengali, shown in courtier's robes but loosely harnessed by a rope, began life as Emperor Akbar's pet monkey. His wide grin and eager eyes suggests his bondage is due to mischievous behavior. It is only through the result of Pyne's technique of building up paint in washes, glazing them so that each successive layer allows the one beneath to breathe through it, that one can imagine such a world. In the next work, Pyne recalls being spellbound by the beauty of a small temple that stood in front of his ancestral home in Kaviraj Row. The destruction of the icon may have inspired this work. The entrance way of the shrine affords a view of a somber space allowing the viewer to imagine the next narrative. Pyne creates a visual world where immagination is encouraged.
Preparatory drawings of both works are shown--Untitled (Bir Bahadur) in charcoal and Untitled (Shrines) in mixed media. Pyne observes: "In earlier days, the idea would come to my mind first. Then I would search for forms, sketching and sketching. Now, the store of my mind has become richer, with age. When I sit down with my paper, I make 'jottings', which are preparatory work. I make different versions of an image, and then translate the one that I like best into tempera on canvas." (Artist Statement, Ganesh Pyne: A Pilgrim in the Dominion of Shadows, The Museum Gallery, Mumbai, 2005, p. 14)