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Lot Essay
Madhya Pradesh also brought about a basic shift in my painting again. The live and vibrant contact with tribal cultures triggered off my natural bent for the primeval, and I started on a new phase recalling my work of the early sixties. If my work of the early sixties anticipated the journey of the eighties, my present phase recapitulates my beginnings.
- Jagdish Swaminathan, 1993
Over the course of his career, Jagdish Swaminathan developed an artistic philosophy which sought to renew tribal and folk art in a contemporary context, in order to return to a paradigm of primitive purity. In the early 1990s, Swaminathan's work underwent a dramatic shift in technique reflecting the tremendous growth in his fascination with tribal motifs, which soon led to the abandonment of his typical compositions of the Bird, Mountain and Tree series. The significance of the role of texture increased, giving these paintings an energy and dynamism not previously seen in his oeuvre. Geometric shapes, particularly the triangle, as seen in the present lot, were commonly used in these works, taking on symbolic significance. On first glance, their structure is similar to a mountain. If explored further in a representational context, the mountain symbolizes Kailash or the abode of the Hindu god Shiva. Similarly, other individual elements in Swaminathan's works from the period take on greater roles, imbuing his paintings with additional layers of meaning. Paintings like the present lot become totemic, "capable of exercising its magical eternal influence on those who come within its field of vision" (Artist statement, 'The Cube and the Rectangle', Lalit Kala Contemporary 40, March 1995, p. 23).
- Jagdish Swaminathan, 1993
Over the course of his career, Jagdish Swaminathan developed an artistic philosophy which sought to renew tribal and folk art in a contemporary context, in order to return to a paradigm of primitive purity. In the early 1990s, Swaminathan's work underwent a dramatic shift in technique reflecting the tremendous growth in his fascination with tribal motifs, which soon led to the abandonment of his typical compositions of the Bird, Mountain and Tree series. The significance of the role of texture increased, giving these paintings an energy and dynamism not previously seen in his oeuvre. Geometric shapes, particularly the triangle, as seen in the present lot, were commonly used in these works, taking on symbolic significance. On first glance, their structure is similar to a mountain. If explored further in a representational context, the mountain symbolizes Kailash or the abode of the Hindu god Shiva. Similarly, other individual elements in Swaminathan's works from the period take on greater roles, imbuing his paintings with additional layers of meaning. Paintings like the present lot become totemic, "capable of exercising its magical eternal influence on those who come within its field of vision" (Artist statement, 'The Cube and the Rectangle', Lalit Kala Contemporary 40, March 1995, p. 23).