Dance (Three Women)

K.S. Radhakrishnan has a “dynamic talent for extracting movement from malleable material – like bronze and papier mache – in an abundance of anthropomorphic forms” (S. Menon, 'K.S. Radhakrishnan, Points of View: Artists and Critics', Twentieth-century Indian Sculpture, Mumbai, 2000, p. 152). The artist disregards the osteologic restraints of the human body by extending the neck, curving the torso, and exaggerating the reach of each limb of his figures, giving him the ability to capture the dynamism of performance within a static sculpture.

This sense of movement is evident in lots 538, 539 and 540, in which Radhakrishnan’s figures are depicted cartwheeling, seemingly windblown and hand-in-hand, swaying mid-step in dance. Having grown up with an actor father who instilled in him a curiosity for ritual dances and performances, the artist’s subjects are often inspired by Indian traditions and mythology. Described as an artist who led a "definitive resurgence in Indian sculpture" by the scholar R. Siva Kumar, Radhakrishnan has recharged India’s age-old sculptural traditions with his energetic figuration (R.S. Kumar, K.S. Radhakrishnan, New Delhi, 2004, inside front cover). Although his sculptures are fashioned using traditional techniques, they are imbued with a stylized, modernist aesthetic that is distinctive and pioneering.