Untitled (Mythological Scroll)

Details

JAMINI ROY (1887-1972)
Untitled (Mythological Scroll)
signed in Bengali (lower right)
tempera on card laid on cloth
15½ x 59½ in. (39.4 x 151.1 cm.)

Provenance

Chandrakala Lal became a friend and patron of Jamini Roy during the 1950s when she lived in Calcutta with her husband Shiv Lal. Mr. Lal’s main company produced and exported iron ore to Europe and Asia. When his many trade partners and diplomats and dignitaries from all around the world visited the Lal family in Calcutta, Mrs. Lal would personally take them to Jamini Roy’s studio and buy them each a painting as a gift, during the 1950s and early 60s. As well as purchasing paintings and supporting him financially, Mrs. Lal brought the artist food, art supplies and even medicine on their frequent visits to Roy’s small studio, a simple house with a modest courtyard in the back, where the artist would sit and paint on the ground. This collection represents not only the sum of each carefully selected artwork, but the time-honored friendship between patron and artist. The paintings travelled from India to Surrey in the United Kingdom in 1968 when the family moved. However, the family remained friends and patrons of the artist until his death in 1972.
Thence by descent

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