Nasreen Mohamedi
(1937 - 1990)
Untitled
Nasreen Mohamedi's art, like herself, is enigmatic, compounded by the fact that the artist most often chose to leave her works undated, and off ered no information about their orientation. Th e present lot bears similarity to the works on paper from the 1960s, when Mohamedi drew from nature to create semi-abstract, almost calligraphic drawings in muted tones. "Though her works from the 1960s seem to be within the lineage of lyrical...
Nasreen Mohamedi's art, like herself, is enigmatic, compounded by the fact that the artist most often chose to leave her works undated, and off ered no information about their orientation. Th e present lot bears similarity to the works on paper from the 1960s, when Mohamedi drew from nature to create semi-abstract, almost calligraphic drawings in muted tones. "Though her works from the 1960s seem to be within the lineage of lyrical abstraction, they are the most agitated works in her entire oeuvre. A certain messiness comes through, of nature withered, abandoned, bearing only traces of the "beatings" of life. Fatal signs of decay are accentuated: dry leaves with empty veins and spines, an isolated branch of a swayed palm left to perish. Ink wash and dry brush are adequate to create the rising agitating ripples in another drawing, the tip of the brush trembling as it leaves a mark to bleed on the moist paper... a monochromatic intensity takes over... Despite signs of vulnerability in her intricately rendered fragile forms, hope, made visible through light-fi lled openings, seeps into the wrecked forms and illuminates areas of the washed-out ground... Interposing the linear and tonal and using watery washes of dark and diluted ink, she leaves pockets of white paper untouched to make empty space on paper behave as light." (Roobina Karode, Nasreen Mohamedi: Waiting Is a Part of Intense Living, Madrid: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofi a and New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016, p. 27) In recent years, Mohamedi has gained international recognition for her unique contribution to abstract art. Reviewing her posthumous solo show at the Tate Liverpool in 2014, Florence Waters writes, "Mohamedi broke away from the mainstream practice of fi gurative painting in post- Independence India. Her emphasis on minimal linear gestures to create infi nite imaginary landscapes and structures exemplifi es her desire to, as she wrote in her diaries, obtain "the maximum of the minimum"."("Nasreen Mohamedi, Tate Liverpool, review: 'mastery of material and form'", The Telegraph , 11 June 2014, online)
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Lot
13
of
78
EVENING SALE | MUMBAI, LIVE
16 FEBRUARY 2017
Estimate
Rs 5,00,000 - 7,00,000
$7,580 - 10,610
Winning Bid
Rs 9,00,000
$13,636
(Inclusive of Buyer's Premium)
ARTWORK DETAILS
Nasreen Mohamedi
Untitled
Signed 'Nasreen 62' (lower right) and inscribed '1/3' (lower left)
Etching on paper board
16.75 x 11.5 in (42.3 x 29.3 cm)
First from a limited edition of three
PROVENANCE: Acquired directly from the artist Property from the Collection of Geeta Khandelwal, Mumbai
Category: Print Making
Style: Abstract
ARTWORK SIZE:
Height of Figure: 6'