Important Notice

N S Bendre, a contemporary of Nandalal Bose, Ram Kinkar Baij and Benode Behari Mukherjee, a member of the committee of artists who set up the Lalit Kala Akademi, and Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at M S University of Baroda from 1959, was a towering figure in the world of modern Indian art. Known as "Dada" (elder brother) to generations of students, his influence on art in India cannot be overstated. He introduced new ideas in art education,... N S Bendre, a contemporary of Nandalal Bose, Ram Kinkar Baij and Benode Behari Mukherjee, a member of the committee of artists who set up the Lalit Kala Akademi, and Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at M S University of Baroda from 1959, was a towering figure in the world of modern Indian art. Known as "Dada" (elder brother) to generations of students, his influence on art in India cannot be overstated. He introduced new ideas in art education, including an intellectual informality in disseminating information. As an artist, Bendre was equally adept at portraits, landscapes and still- lifes, inspiring awe among his students with his demonstrations of painting techniques.

Bendre's artistic career began at the State School of Art in Indore in 1929. This was followed by the Government Diploma in Art from Bombay in 1933. In 1947-48, Bendre travelled to the United States, gaining to exposure to 20th century Western art. The present lot, painted in 1951, is one of the earliest works he made upon his return, when he joined the Baroda faculty as Head of the Painting department. The 1950s and 1960s are regarded among the most important periods in his career as an artist, highlighted by his experimentations with Cubism.

"Cubist tools in the hands of Bendre... were a means to simplify through a stylization that aspired to reduce complexity and strive for what they would call a purity of form. Within this context it follows that it was the design aspect of Cubism that attracted artists at Baroda from the very outset." (Gulammohammed Sheikh ed., Contemporary Art in Baroda, New Delhi: Tulika Books, 1997, p. 76) Aside from the influences of Western Cubism, Bendre also had an interest in Asian art traditions, sparked by his stay at Shantiniketan in 1945. "From this encounter, according to his friend and collaborator Amberkar, he learnt to appreciate 'the rhythmic linear qualities of Indian design.'" (Sheikh, p. 73) Works such as the present lot are evidence of the artist's continuing quest to synthesize different ways of seeing and expressing form. "What interested Bendre most were spatial tensions and not cubist distortions." (Ratan Parimoo, "Profile of a Pioneer: N S Bendre," Lalit Kala Contemporary 37, New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 1991, p. 77) The present lot employs a rich brown background against which fluid black lines and bold, clean colours create a dynamic composition.

In conversation, fellow-artist and one of his earliest students in Baroda, Shanti Dave, recalls that Bendre would incorporate an animal or bird into his paintings during this period, to "animate" them with life. In the present lot, one can find a peacock among the coloured forms. Parimoo points out that, "Bendre's cubist works cannot be classified as analytical or synthetic... it is possible to observe in them an attempt to synthesize the simplicity of human form in Indian miniatures with the cubist structure of receding and protruding planes." (Parimoo, p. 77)

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