Lot 23

They hover between figuration and abstraction, and in many ways remind me of Ellsworth Kelly's photography. But they came from a totally different cultural perspective and a part of the world whose modernist history I didn't know. They anticipate how artists used photography much later, almost in a neo-Pictorialist manner [...] I also loved that her images are humble, not bombastic or big. It was something that really stayed with me -- that a humble work can also seem monumental. - Philippe Vergne PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF LALITHA LAJMI

NASREEN MOHAMEDI (1937-1990)

Untitled

Details

NASREEN MOHAMEDI (1937-1990)
Untitled
photographic print on paper
9¾ x 12 in. (24.8 x 30.5 cm.)
Executed circa 1970s; printed 1990s; number one from an edition of ten

Provenance

The Fine Art Company, Mumbai

Literature

Altaf, ed., Nasreen in Retrospect, Mumbai, 1995, p. 41
G. Kapur, When was Modernism, New Delhi, 2000, p. 15 (another from the edition illustrated)
Crossing Generations: diVERGE, Forty Years of Gallery Chemould, exhibition catalogue, Mumbai, 2003, p. 37 (another from the edition illustrated)
The Last Picture Show: Artists Using Photography, exhibition catalogue, Minneapolis, 2004, p. 216 (another from the edition illustrated)
Nasreen Mohamedi, Lines among Lines, exhibition catalogue, New York, 2005, p. 20 (another from the edition illustrated)
The 5th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, exhibition catalogue, Brisbane, 2006, p. 153 (another from the edition illustrated)
India Arte Oggi: L'arte Contemporanea Indiana fra Continuita, exhibition catalogue, Milan, 2007, pp. 15, 100-101 (another from the edition illustrated)
Nasreen Mohamedi, exhibition catalogue, Milton Keynes, 2009 (another from the edition illustrated, unpaginated)
G. Mannes-Abbott, 'Nasreen Mohamedi: Notes, Reflections on Indian Modernism', Bidoun, 2009, p. 168 (another from the edition illustrated)
D. Talwar, ed., the grid unplugged, Nasreen Mohamedi, New Delhi, 2009, p. 11 (illustrated)
R. Spence, 'So much for stereotypes', Financial Times, 8 February 2013 (another from the edition illustrated)
Nasreen Mohamedi: Waiting is a Part of Intense Living, exhibition catalogue, Madrid, 2015, p. 230 (another from the edition illustrated)

Exhibited

Bombay, Jehangir Art Gallery, Nasreen in Retrospect, 1991 (another from the edition)
New York, Talwar Gallery, Nasreen Mohamedi: Early Photoworks, 18 September - 20 Novermber, 2003 (another from the edition)
Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Vigo, Winterhur, Walker Art Center, Armand Hammer Museum, Museo de Arte Contemporanea, Fotomuseum, The Last Picture Show, 2003-2005 (another from the edition)
New York, Drawing Center, Nasreen Mohamedi, Lines among Lines, 19 March - 21 May, 2005 (another from the edition)
Milton Keynes, MK Gallery, Nasreen Mohamedi: Notes, Reflections on Indian Modernism, 5 September, 15 November, 2009 (another from the edition)
New Delhi, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Nasreen Mohamedi, A Retrospective, 31 January - 30 November, 2013 (another from the edition)
New York, Talwar Gallery, Nasreen Mohamedi, Becoming One, 13 September 2013 - 25 January 2014 (another from the edition)
Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Nasreen Mohamedi, 23 September 2015 - 11 January 2016 (another from the edition)

Brought to you by

Umah Jacob

ujacob@christies.com +91 22 2280 7905

Lot Essay

Nasreen always showed me her works whenever I went to Baroda, and her black and white photographs too. She often said to me "Lalitha, you understand my work; very few do." Perhaps we had some sort of rapport. The photographs, I remember, had strange images; even a speck in the sands interested her. Most of her photographs were shot in Bahrain and Kihim, where she had family homes. When Altaf and Navjot organised a retrospective of her work, and their daughter Sasha curated a show of some of her works in the Fine Art Company in Mumbai, I set my eyes on this photograph with perspective. I fell in love with it and purchased it. In Nasreen's photographs, one could see her fine sense of inanimate objects. Even an ant or a tiny form sometimes in the desert. I have never seen such works before!
- Lalitha Lajmi

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