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拍品专文
The tradition of Indian sculpture goes back thousands of years adorning walls of caves and temple architecture. However, with such a great sculptural heritage to draw inspiration from, the story of Modern Indian sculpture begins in the academic realist style, based on mid-Victorian ideas of naturalism under the British Raj.
It was in the 1940s when the sculptural movement saw a new beginning, freeing itself from the Victorian style. Sculptors now explored various media and style, leaning towards abstraction, best represented by the works of Ram Kinker Baij. Sankho Chaudhuri, a student of Baij followed the steps of his teacher and took modern Indian sculpture to a different level. Unlike Baij, who was known for his use of unconventional material and rural themes, Chaudhuri began experimenting with wood and stone, retaining the essential character of the solid block from which the most beautiful human forms would emerge through his works. His visit and stay in Paris in 1949 played a critical role, where he was introduced to the works of Brancusi, leading to his search for pure form induced by European aesthetics that added a new and interesting dimension to Chaudhuri's sculptures.
Upon his return from Europe, Chaudhuri started the sculpture department in Baroda, one of the most prominent art schools in India. It was a very important step in the formation of what we understand by Modern Indian sculpture today and Chaudhuri is considered as one of the stalwarts of Indian sculpture alongside other masters like Pradosh Dasgupta, Somnath Hore and Meera Mukherjee.
In 1953 the NGMA organized the first exhibition of modern Indian sculpture and in 1956, Chaudhuri received the Lalit Kala Akademi award. It was this year when he executed the Figure of a Woman being offered here. The Keehn family lived in New Delhi at this time and organized a one-man show for Chaudhuri in 1957, shortly after the 8 Painters exhibition.
In this sculpture, Chaudhuri emphasizes the physical attributes in a most vital manner capturing the essence of a woman preening herself. The raised arm with a sweeping loftiness and exaggerated flowing lines and elongated torso add up to the image of youthful beauty. The smooth and polished surface further embellishes the grace and palpable flesh-like quality to this sculpture. This is a unique work in the oeuvre of the artist, laboriously "liberated" from the solid block and sanded and polished to ultimate perfection.
It was in the 1940s when the sculptural movement saw a new beginning, freeing itself from the Victorian style. Sculptors now explored various media and style, leaning towards abstraction, best represented by the works of Ram Kinker Baij. Sankho Chaudhuri, a student of Baij followed the steps of his teacher and took modern Indian sculpture to a different level. Unlike Baij, who was known for his use of unconventional material and rural themes, Chaudhuri began experimenting with wood and stone, retaining the essential character of the solid block from which the most beautiful human forms would emerge through his works. His visit and stay in Paris in 1949 played a critical role, where he was introduced to the works of Brancusi, leading to his search for pure form induced by European aesthetics that added a new and interesting dimension to Chaudhuri's sculptures.
Upon his return from Europe, Chaudhuri started the sculpture department in Baroda, one of the most prominent art schools in India. It was a very important step in the formation of what we understand by Modern Indian sculpture today and Chaudhuri is considered as one of the stalwarts of Indian sculpture alongside other masters like Pradosh Dasgupta, Somnath Hore and Meera Mukherjee.
In 1953 the NGMA organized the first exhibition of modern Indian sculpture and in 1956, Chaudhuri received the Lalit Kala Akademi award. It was this year when he executed the Figure of a Woman being offered here. The Keehn family lived in New Delhi at this time and organized a one-man show for Chaudhuri in 1957, shortly after the 8 Painters exhibition.
In this sculpture, Chaudhuri emphasizes the physical attributes in a most vital manner capturing the essence of a woman preening herself. The raised arm with a sweeping loftiness and exaggerated flowing lines and elongated torso add up to the image of youthful beauty. The smooth and polished surface further embellishes the grace and palpable flesh-like quality to this sculpture. This is a unique work in the oeuvre of the artist, laboriously "liberated" from the solid block and sanded and polished to ultimate perfection.