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Lot Essay
Expression was all-important […] Expressionism appeals to the viewer directly…Munch, Kokoschka, Emil Nolde weren’t painters in the tradition of painting, and they were ‘gut’ painters. I was painting from the gut.
– Tyeb Mehta
Tyeb Mehta’s formative style was deeply influenced by the time he spent in the United Kingdom and Europe in the 1950s. Mehta first travelled to Europe for a few months in 1954, where he visited Paris and London to study the European Masters. He was so influenced by this trip that in 1959, the year of the present painting, he returned to Europe for an extended stay in London where he lived and worked for five years. Exposure to Western art was critical in the development of Mehta’s distinctive early aesthetic, allowing him to develop a new visual vocabulary.
From the late 1950s, although Mehta’s compositions remain anchored by a central figure, the forms begin to fracture and flatten. His works of this critical period display a quiet sensitivity that resonates with emotional potency. It was only in these transitional years that the artist signed his works ‘Tyebi’ before switching to the more familiar ‘Tyeb’. Untitled (Reclining Nude) is a rare example of the artist’s transition from static sculptural forms to expressive and sensitive abstract ones. Whilst the plasticity of the reclining figure owes a debt to the months Mehta spent studying sculpture in the Faculty of Fine Arts of M.S. University, Baroda, in 1957, the dynamic expressive brushstroke and use of the palette knife is a clear product of the vibrant London art scene of the 1950s. The influence of the emotive visceral qualities of European Expressionism is clear as it starts to replace the softer and smoother technique of Mehta’s earlier works.
This reclining nude is also reminiscent of the Western tradition of the romantic trope of the odalisque, most notably adopted by the artists Henri Matisse and Paul Gauguin. Mehta adopts this odalisque style not just as an arena for expression but as a monument to femininity. This painting depicts a woman outstretched on an abstracted background. This abstracted female appears in several of Mehta's paintings over this brief period treated with an almost deferential, loving respect.
Painted as the 1950s drew to a close, this is one of the last examples of the artist's subtle and vulnerable early paintings, which preceded his gestural abstracted style of the 1960s. This tender portrait was exhibited in 1959 in Mehta's first solo show at the Jehangir Art Gallery in Bombay, organized by Gallery 59, owned by his friend and gallerist Bal Chhabda. The painting was acquired by Emanuel Schlesinger, an emigre businessman who advised and encouraged several young artists in India at the time, frequently acquiring their work to support them financially as well. This painting is then a unique portrayal of love, life and hope at a moment where the artist was himself standing on the threshold of success.
– Tyeb Mehta
Tyeb Mehta’s formative style was deeply influenced by the time he spent in the United Kingdom and Europe in the 1950s. Mehta first travelled to Europe for a few months in 1954, where he visited Paris and London to study the European Masters. He was so influenced by this trip that in 1959, the year of the present painting, he returned to Europe for an extended stay in London where he lived and worked for five years. Exposure to Western art was critical in the development of Mehta’s distinctive early aesthetic, allowing him to develop a new visual vocabulary.
From the late 1950s, although Mehta’s compositions remain anchored by a central figure, the forms begin to fracture and flatten. His works of this critical period display a quiet sensitivity that resonates with emotional potency. It was only in these transitional years that the artist signed his works ‘Tyebi’ before switching to the more familiar ‘Tyeb’. Untitled (Reclining Nude) is a rare example of the artist’s transition from static sculptural forms to expressive and sensitive abstract ones. Whilst the plasticity of the reclining figure owes a debt to the months Mehta spent studying sculpture in the Faculty of Fine Arts of M.S. University, Baroda, in 1957, the dynamic expressive brushstroke and use of the palette knife is a clear product of the vibrant London art scene of the 1950s. The influence of the emotive visceral qualities of European Expressionism is clear as it starts to replace the softer and smoother technique of Mehta’s earlier works.
This reclining nude is also reminiscent of the Western tradition of the romantic trope of the odalisque, most notably adopted by the artists Henri Matisse and Paul Gauguin. Mehta adopts this odalisque style not just as an arena for expression but as a monument to femininity. This painting depicts a woman outstretched on an abstracted background. This abstracted female appears in several of Mehta's paintings over this brief period treated with an almost deferential, loving respect.
Painted as the 1950s drew to a close, this is one of the last examples of the artist's subtle and vulnerable early paintings, which preceded his gestural abstracted style of the 1960s. This tender portrait was exhibited in 1959 in Mehta's first solo show at the Jehangir Art Gallery in Bombay, organized by Gallery 59, owned by his friend and gallerist Bal Chhabda. The painting was acquired by Emanuel Schlesinger, an emigre businessman who advised and encouraged several young artists in India at the time, frequently acquiring their work to support them financially as well. This painting is then a unique portrayal of love, life and hope at a moment where the artist was himself standing on the threshold of success.