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Lot Essay
Born in 1894 in Kishoreganj, now a part of Bangladesh, Hemendranath Mazumdar was one of the few Indian artists of the early Twentieth Century to achieve both academic and commercial success. Although he was a close associate of Abanindranath Tagore, he preferred to work in the European academic style championed by the evolving Bengal School. In a 1929 issue of the Illustrated Journal of Fine Arts, he wrote an article titled ‘The Making of a Picture’ in which he defined his working processes as typical of the prevailing academic style favoured by the British – first producing preparatory sketches, then more detailed pencil and wash studies and finally a finely, structured painting.
Mazumdar’s oeuvre followed in the tradition of Raja Ravi Varma and explored a comparable range of themes focussing mainly on idealising sensual studies of the female form. His large sensuous oil paintings of nude or partially clothed women exuding a sense of intimate, voyeuristic eroticism attracted the attention of several royal figures. The Maharajas of Jaipur, Bikaner, Kashmir, Patiala, Cooch Behar and Mayurbhanj, to name a few, commissioned many works from him for their palaces. The Maharaja of Patiala, Sir Bhupinder Singh (1891-1938), a devoted patron, engaged him as a state artist for five years (1932-38).
The Maharaja of Mayurbhanj also bought a large number of his works providing him with regular commissions. A similar work to the current painting adorned the walls of the Mayurbhanj Palace at Baripada in Orissa. Abhiman or ‘Wounded Vanity’ is a subject the artist returned to on more than one occasion. Although the posture of the model is the same in both works, the background details vary slightly in each image. The woman’s luminous flesh tones stand out in dramatic contrast to the darker background. Her face turned away from the viewer, resting on her arm conveys a sense of sorrow and dejection. She holds a flower in her left hand with another on the floor beside her, perhaps symbolising her wounded pride.
Mazumdar’s oeuvre followed in the tradition of Raja Ravi Varma and explored a comparable range of themes focussing mainly on idealising sensual studies of the female form. His large sensuous oil paintings of nude or partially clothed women exuding a sense of intimate, voyeuristic eroticism attracted the attention of several royal figures. The Maharajas of Jaipur, Bikaner, Kashmir, Patiala, Cooch Behar and Mayurbhanj, to name a few, commissioned many works from him for their palaces. The Maharaja of Patiala, Sir Bhupinder Singh (1891-1938), a devoted patron, engaged him as a state artist for five years (1932-38).
The Maharaja of Mayurbhanj also bought a large number of his works providing him with regular commissions. A similar work to the current painting adorned the walls of the Mayurbhanj Palace at Baripada in Orissa. Abhiman or ‘Wounded Vanity’ is a subject the artist returned to on more than one occasion. Although the posture of the model is the same in both works, the background details vary slightly in each image. The woman’s luminous flesh tones stand out in dramatic contrast to the darker background. Her face turned away from the viewer, resting on her arm conveys a sense of sorrow and dejection. She holds a flower in her left hand with another on the floor beside her, perhaps symbolising her wounded pride.