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Lot Essay
Unlike his predecessors, Bikash Bhattacharjee was neither interested in traditional Indian painting techniques nor the modernist art scene in Bombay. Rebuffing abstraction altogether, the artist instead focused on photorealist depictions of subjects often omitted from Indian visual culture, such as street performers, prostitutes, and the common women of his home city of Calcutta. Though his works initially appear to express static realism, Bhattacharjee also incorporates fantastical elements into his compositions, ultimately conveying a dynamic and disconcerting vision of the artist’s own reality. “Most of his pictures give a glimpse of a world that lies beyond the canvas which, on its part, ceases to be a quadrangular piece of linen and becomes a door leading to a world unknown – a world of immeasurable depth, haunted by mute, mysterious myrmidons of secretive, sulking souls.” (A. Banerjee, ‘Exhibitions’, Lalit Kala Contemporary, New Delhi, 1974, p. 35)
Bhattacharjee considered himself a Surrealist, citing Salvador Dali as his favorite artist and inspiration. These inclinations are apparent in his tendency to contort his otherwise commonplace subjects in sinister ways, frequently using shadows or figural omission to accomplish this. In the present work, the artist eliminates the pupils of his subject, leaving his audience with the haunting and unrelenting stare of her empty, opaque eyes. Bhattacharjee matches the cloudy white of his subject’s eyes with both the newspaper she clutches and the lowest portion of the overcast sky, suggesting an eerie liaison between the three. Having extensively studied Baroque art, Bhattacharjee held a strong belief in the potential for shadows to create drama in even seemingly mundane compositions. Here, the artist builds a narrative around the mood brought about by his shadows, relying on both his technical mastery and the natural allegorical tendencies of darkness. “I prefer to lay the dark colours first and then build up the lights and the highlights. This process has helped me to give dimension to my pictures to say what I want to, and also to give the canvas the texture and characters that I desire.” (Artist statement, A. Banerjee, ‘Conversations with Artists: Bikash Bhattacharjee’, Lalit Kala Contemporary 15, New Delhi, 1973, p. 18)
Bhattacharjee considered himself a Surrealist, citing Salvador Dali as his favorite artist and inspiration. These inclinations are apparent in his tendency to contort his otherwise commonplace subjects in sinister ways, frequently using shadows or figural omission to accomplish this. In the present work, the artist eliminates the pupils of his subject, leaving his audience with the haunting and unrelenting stare of her empty, opaque eyes. Bhattacharjee matches the cloudy white of his subject’s eyes with both the newspaper she clutches and the lowest portion of the overcast sky, suggesting an eerie liaison between the three. Having extensively studied Baroque art, Bhattacharjee held a strong belief in the potential for shadows to create drama in even seemingly mundane compositions. Here, the artist builds a narrative around the mood brought about by his shadows, relying on both his technical mastery and the natural allegorical tendencies of darkness. “I prefer to lay the dark colours first and then build up the lights and the highlights. This process has helped me to give dimension to my pictures to say what I want to, and also to give the canvas the texture and characters that I desire.” (Artist statement, A. Banerjee, ‘Conversations with Artists: Bikash Bhattacharjee’, Lalit Kala Contemporary 15, New Delhi, 1973, p. 18)