K G Subramanyan
(1924 - 2016)
Studio
"Subramanyan`s taste and sensitivity are reflected by the soft beauty found in his many still life paintings, still lifes drawn from objects found around us everyday but brought together in a delightful manner first, not on a table, but in the mind of the painter and then ordered into a beauty on the canvas. They are of many colors and moods and their objects are wonderfully diverse. Many objects are obscure as to their nature and purpose but...
"Subramanyan`s taste and sensitivity are reflected by the soft beauty found in his many still life paintings, still lifes drawn from objects found around us everyday but brought together in a delightful manner first, not on a table, but in the mind of the painter and then ordered into a beauty on the canvas. They are of many colors and moods and their objects are wonderfully diverse. Many objects are obscure as to their nature and purpose but come to have a true meaning in the `reality` of the painting" (Roy C. Craven, Jr., "A Short Report on Contemporary Painting in India", Art Journal, Vol. XXIV, No. 3, 1965, p. 233).
Crisscrossing between the figurative and abstract, K. G. Subramanyan successfully marries modern painting with the folk art and craft traditions of India in his work. The present lot, a large format canvas characteristic of this synthesis, is fractured into several episodes playing out simultaneously. Executed in a cool palette of aquamarine, brown and grey, this piece offers a look into the various rooms of an artist`s studio – a theme the artist termed `interiors` and explored as early as the 1970`s when he was teaching in Baroda. Placing his viewer in the position of voyeur, Subramanyan opens up the personal worlds of his subjects to general inspection.
In this studio, there is no distinction between the private and public self, appearance and reality. In one room we are privy to the hushed conversation of three ladies dressed in pearls and furs about the paintings they have just seen. In another we stumble across an intimate encounter between model and sculpture, and find ourselves wondering if either makes true representation. Characterizing this dichotomy as one between the `instinctual` and the `civilisational` modes of living, Nancy Adajania notes that Subramanyan, "maps the range of expressions that are possible between the two extremes: Instinct at the core of the self, and Civilisation as the largest envelope in which the self is held. What Subramanyan does is to explore the concentric grey areas between the Instinct-centre and the Civilisation-boundary. And thus he seeks the creativity manifested in quick changes of identity, instabilities of position, ambiguities of definition; he looks for that protean principle of life which is both a thing and its opposite, that wears now one mask and now another, that says to the imagination, `Catch me if you can!`" ("Pictorial Vocabulary", The Hindu, March 3, 2005).
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Lot
6
of
110
WINTER AUCTION 2007
5-6 DECEMBER 2007
Estimate
Rs 35,00,000 - 45,00,000
$92,105 - 118,430
Winning Bid
Rs 43,52,749
$114,546
(Inclusive of Buyer's Premium)
ARTWORK DETAILS
K G Subramanyan
Studio
Initialed in Tamil (lower left)
2000
Oil on canvas
53.5 x 53.5 in (135.9 x 135.9 cm)
Category: Painting
Style: Figurative
ARTWORK SIZE:
Height of Figure: 6'