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Lot Essay
“Over a hundred leading artists collected under SAHMAT's banner, in Bombay in mid-March to signal once again the integrative powers of art.” (R. Shahani, ‘Artists Against Communalism; Strain of Sweet Secular Music’, The Economic Times, New Delhi, 1 April 1992)
On 14 March 1992, Tyeb Mehta’s monumental painting, Falling Figure, was used as the central backdrop for Artists against Communalism (AAC), a twelve-hour cultural sit-in organised by SAHMAT at Shivaji Park in Mumbai. At a moment when Mumbai was on the brink of erupting in communal violence, this painting became the banner under which several artists, musicians, dancers and poets gathered together in creative unity.
At this historic event, Mehta’s long association with communal violence and art came full circle. With complete clarity and purpose, though frail from sickness, Mehta accepted the commission to work on the enormous banner for the concert with an associate under his close direction. Outlined against the vivid red that spills across the canvas, this falling figure represents the essence of the artist’s work on a scale he never attempted before. This central square section of the banner was preserved after the event and signed by Mehta.
"Tyeb Mehta got up from a very sick-bed, against his doctor's orders, and painted the outstanding blow-up of his traffic leitmotif 'falling figure' for the extensive backdrop of the stage erected for the 12 hour cultural sit-in at Shivaji Park." (R. Shahani, 'Artists Against Communalism; Strain of Sweet Secular Music', The Economic Times, 1 April 1992)
The idiom of the falling figure, a subject Mehta often revisited, was born out of a traumatic memory from his childhood when he witnessed the violent death of a man during the Partition riots of 1947. The quotation of the falling figure, in the context of this event, brings this experience full circle for the artist. This painting represents an exceptional moment of synergy between Mehta’s artistic and social concerns. The initial inspiration for and meaning behind the idiom of the falling figure in his oeuvre is directly associated with its use at the AAC meeting. The free-falling figure represents an impending loss of control and the inevitable fall of man from grace in atonement for his fateful hubris. The current work was created as a didactic icon, one which implemented an aesthetic that is not only profoundly personal and spiritual but used for a uniquely socio-political purpose.
"During the five decades that he has spent in the contemplation of suffering, Tyeb has condensed melancholic histories of violence into austere forms [...] Armoured only in their fateful heroism, these icons have encrypted Tyeb's private demons while also embodying his intuitions concerning the social and political formation of which he is a member." (R. Hoskote, Tyeb Mehta: Ideas Images Exchanges, New Delhi, 2005, p. 21)
Through Falling Figure, Mehta “bridged autobiography with the universe of shared meaning […] We may infer, also, that these obsessional images, autobiographical in import, gradually gained significance as Tyeb externalised them, reflecting on them, and allowed them to shimmer against the wider canvas of society.” (R. Hoskote, Tyeb Mehta: Ideas Images Exchanges, New Delhi, 2005, p. 14) This public work is the very embodiment of this sentiment, where Mehta’s protagonist becomes actively involved – a willing participant in the event.
With Mehta’s elegant economy of line and colour, the forcefulness of the backdrop is accentuated. The figure is brutally foreshortened as if in the final furlong of a frightful fall. It is left up to the viewer to decide whether this figure is emerging from or tumbling toward the blood-red pool which soaks up the background. If this is indeed analogous to the destiny of man, this figure is at a critical moment, balancing between damnation and absolution.
In selecting this sparse symbol, Mehta aimed to mobilise a movement and raise consciousness of communalism and its associated violence, which has fissured the skin of the subcontinent and haunted the memory of its people since 1947. This painting is as much a monument of mourning for those that have suffered from the legacy of Partition, as it is a call to action, as relevant in 1992 as it is today.
“After the concert one was left with yet another definition of communalism – it is the richness and variety of our national history and culture. To those who are seeking creative ways and means of promoting secularism it established that there are hundreds of modes of integration waiting to be discovered.” (R. Shahani, 'Artists Against Communalism; Strain of Sweet Secular Music', The Economic Times, 1 April 1992)
In December 2014, this painting was used once again as a backdrop for a momentous concert by the virtuoso flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, one of the musicians who performed at AAC in 1992, at the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai. Although the landscape of the city of Mumbai, and indeed of India had changed dramatically between 1992 and 2014, this second concert also celebrated the rich and eclectic tapestry of culture that continues to weave the nation together, recalling a pivotal moment in Indian cultural history, and realising its sustained resonance.
On 14 March 1992, Tyeb Mehta’s monumental painting, Falling Figure, was used as the central backdrop for Artists against Communalism (AAC), a twelve-hour cultural sit-in organised by SAHMAT at Shivaji Park in Mumbai. At a moment when Mumbai was on the brink of erupting in communal violence, this painting became the banner under which several artists, musicians, dancers and poets gathered together in creative unity.
At this historic event, Mehta’s long association with communal violence and art came full circle. With complete clarity and purpose, though frail from sickness, Mehta accepted the commission to work on the enormous banner for the concert with an associate under his close direction. Outlined against the vivid red that spills across the canvas, this falling figure represents the essence of the artist’s work on a scale he never attempted before. This central square section of the banner was preserved after the event and signed by Mehta.
"Tyeb Mehta got up from a very sick-bed, against his doctor's orders, and painted the outstanding blow-up of his traffic leitmotif 'falling figure' for the extensive backdrop of the stage erected for the 12 hour cultural sit-in at Shivaji Park." (R. Shahani, 'Artists Against Communalism; Strain of Sweet Secular Music', The Economic Times, 1 April 1992)
The idiom of the falling figure, a subject Mehta often revisited, was born out of a traumatic memory from his childhood when he witnessed the violent death of a man during the Partition riots of 1947. The quotation of the falling figure, in the context of this event, brings this experience full circle for the artist. This painting represents an exceptional moment of synergy between Mehta’s artistic and social concerns. The initial inspiration for and meaning behind the idiom of the falling figure in his oeuvre is directly associated with its use at the AAC meeting. The free-falling figure represents an impending loss of control and the inevitable fall of man from grace in atonement for his fateful hubris. The current work was created as a didactic icon, one which implemented an aesthetic that is not only profoundly personal and spiritual but used for a uniquely socio-political purpose.
"During the five decades that he has spent in the contemplation of suffering, Tyeb has condensed melancholic histories of violence into austere forms [...] Armoured only in their fateful heroism, these icons have encrypted Tyeb's private demons while also embodying his intuitions concerning the social and political formation of which he is a member." (R. Hoskote, Tyeb Mehta: Ideas Images Exchanges, New Delhi, 2005, p. 21)
Through Falling Figure, Mehta “bridged autobiography with the universe of shared meaning […] We may infer, also, that these obsessional images, autobiographical in import, gradually gained significance as Tyeb externalised them, reflecting on them, and allowed them to shimmer against the wider canvas of society.” (R. Hoskote, Tyeb Mehta: Ideas Images Exchanges, New Delhi, 2005, p. 14) This public work is the very embodiment of this sentiment, where Mehta’s protagonist becomes actively involved – a willing participant in the event.
With Mehta’s elegant economy of line and colour, the forcefulness of the backdrop is accentuated. The figure is brutally foreshortened as if in the final furlong of a frightful fall. It is left up to the viewer to decide whether this figure is emerging from or tumbling toward the blood-red pool which soaks up the background. If this is indeed analogous to the destiny of man, this figure is at a critical moment, balancing between damnation and absolution.
In selecting this sparse symbol, Mehta aimed to mobilise a movement and raise consciousness of communalism and its associated violence, which has fissured the skin of the subcontinent and haunted the memory of its people since 1947. This painting is as much a monument of mourning for those that have suffered from the legacy of Partition, as it is a call to action, as relevant in 1992 as it is today.
“After the concert one was left with yet another definition of communalism – it is the richness and variety of our national history and culture. To those who are seeking creative ways and means of promoting secularism it established that there are hundreds of modes of integration waiting to be discovered.” (R. Shahani, 'Artists Against Communalism; Strain of Sweet Secular Music', The Economic Times, 1 April 1992)
In December 2014, this painting was used once again as a backdrop for a momentous concert by the virtuoso flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, one of the musicians who performed at AAC in 1992, at the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai. Although the landscape of the city of Mumbai, and indeed of India had changed dramatically between 1992 and 2014, this second concert also celebrated the rich and eclectic tapestry of culture that continues to weave the nation together, recalling a pivotal moment in Indian cultural history, and realising its sustained resonance.