Important Notice

Satish Gujral’s early canvases poignantly capture the anguish of the partition of Punjab, which he witnessed firsthand. Distressed and grieving faces of refugees dominated his early works, reflecting his own emotions. Over six decades, Gujral’s artistic journey was guided by the desire to let his expressions and messages dictate his choice of medium and subjects. Fondly remembered as a versatile artist, he wore many hats-painter, sculptor,... Satish Gujral’s early canvases poignantly capture the anguish of the partition of Punjab, which he witnessed firsthand. Distressed and grieving faces of refugees dominated his early works, reflecting his own emotions. Over six decades, Gujral’s artistic journey was guided by the desire to let his expressions and messages dictate his choice of medium and subjects. Fondly remembered as a versatile artist, he wore many hats-painter, sculptor, muralist, architect, and interior designer-earning praise as a genius from art critics like Charles Fabri and Richard Bartholomew.

“...Painting, sculpture and architecture are manifestations of a single aesthetic. They are products of a total environment-- a social and cultural system with parallels in literature, music and other arts...”
- SATISH GUJRAL

Gujral’s versatility in his oeuvre can be traced back to his training at the Mayo School of Art in Lahore. Established in 1870, the institution followed a South Kensington curriculum focused on reviving India’s traditional crafts and design and fostered a close connection with Punjabi artisans. Here, Gujral acquired diverse skills like carpentry, clay moulding, wood carving, drawing, and design. He furthered his studies at the J J School of Art in Bombay, where he formed friendships with artists like V S Gaitonde and had F N Souza and S H Raza as close contemporaries.

Gujral always believed in art as a force for political change and asserted his voice in citing the importance of public art. His widely recognised murals in deep earthy and metallic colours won him a scholarship to Mexico, in 1952, as an apprentice to David-Alfaro Sequeiros. Gujral’s ideas about bridging the gap between fine art and artisanal practice was consonant with Sequeiros’ ideology.

Recognising Gujral’s pictorial inventions, Siqueiros and Diego Rivera wrote in 1952: “Gujral’s pictorial work appears to us to be of extreme importance, the artist’s youth notwithstanding. We believe that it contains all the essential elements of his nation, the great civilization of his own country. The illustrative sense in the widest meaning of the word, so often found in Indian and Mexican art, appears in his works in a very outstanding manner. This will lead him, indeed, is already leading him, to the achievement of a most powerful and eloquent realism in painting. The relation that is between his work and modern Mexican painting will undoubtedly be of great use, because it is not an inadequate mixture or combination but an aesthetic and viable co-ordination.” (Gayatri Sinha, Santo Datta, Gautam Bhatia, “Artography: Painting 1950-1965,” Satish Gujral: An Artography, New Delhi: Roli Books, 2006, p. 25)

Gujral endeavoured into sculpture and engaged in architectural projects over the years. He later returned to painting in 1986. Throughout his artistic journey, he underwent various style changes and experimented with different mediums. His painterly language was now different from his early works in a muted palette, becoming more lyrical and vibrant, similar to the present lot. He deftly retains and incorporates elements from his experiments in relief sculpture and architecture such as the quality of mass in his figure and textural richness. In the present lot, Gujral employs peculiarly masked figures in a dynamism imbuing protest, drama, play, and rebellion in his narration. “Gujral’s vision articulates itself in quite a range and sweep since he synthesizes painting, sculpture and architecture into one flowing force. Echoing subliminal and atavistic memories, the power of his conviction and creativity is strongly linked with a sense of primordial continuity and history. If you mentally and visually try and see the dynamics of the three aesthetic disciplines he works in juxtaposed together, you will immediately comprehend Gujral's conviction that all these mediums flow and move into one another.” (Sumitra Kumar Srinivasan quoted in Satish Gujral: An Artography, p. 109)

Read More
Artist Profile
Other works of this artist in: this auction  |  entire site