Important Notice

One of India’s foremost women sculptors, Pilloo Pochkhanawala carved her own niche at a time when art was dominated by painting. Her works “manifest an already undertaken discourse that underlined gender consciousness. This involved experimenting with new materials and understanding the nature of the materials through the process.” (Pratapaditya Pal ed., Twentieth-Century Indian Sculpture: The Last Two Decades, Mumbai: Marg Publications,... One of India’s foremost women sculptors, Pilloo Pochkhanawala carved her own niche at a time when art was dominated by painting. Her works “manifest an already undertaken discourse that underlined gender consciousness. This involved experimenting with new materials and understanding the nature of the materials through the process.” (Pratapaditya Pal ed., Twentieth-Century Indian Sculpture: The Last Two Decades, Mumbai: Marg Publications, 2000, pp. 70-71)

A self-taught artist, she was inspired to become a sculptor after a trip to Europe for a commercial assignment in 1951 that left her awed by the medium. “Evidently, it was my sudden grasp of the third dimension that left me mortified by the sculptures...because I was seized by the fear of the challenge of tackling something so difficult. I suppose the mind was sorting out the message that was beginning to take shape.” (Artist quoted in S A Krishnan ed., Pilloo Pochkhanawala, New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 2007) In the 1960s, Pochkhanawala was one of the few artists from Bombay (now Mumbai) closely working with the Baroda school of sculptors, and she held her first show at Gallery Chemould, which was followed by many others. It was perhaps a result of her lack of a formal art education that made Pochkhanawala’s work, that ranged from smaller sculptures to theatre sets and monumental public art, dynamic and experimental.

She used diverse materials such as “aluminium in Constructivist style but with a metaphysical bent of mind,” cement, lead, thermocol, metal, and wood, as seen in the present lot. (Pal ed., p. 71) In later years, themes such as time and the cycle of life and death became prevalent in her sculptures. Pochkhanawala’s public artworks were installed at places such as the Haji Ali traffic circle and the Nehru Centre in Mumbai. Alongside the artist community, she also played an instrumental role in founding the National Gallery of Modern Art in Mumbai.


JEROO VAKIL MANGO
Jeroo Vakil Mango's journey as an art collector has its roots in a trip to Rajasthan that she had undertaken just before her marriage to Naval Vakil, who was then a partner in one of the leading law firms of India. Her exposure to the colours and sensations of Rajasthan left her wanting to explore the modern art world in greater detail. This was only furthered by Naval’s interest in collecting art as well as attending exhibitions and cultural events, and developing close friendships with Krishen Khanna, Akbar Padamsee, and M F Husain.

The duo's first acquisition together were a couple of Jamini Roys, which eventually expanded into a much larger collection that included works by Padamsee, Khanna, S H Raza, Husain, Satish Gujral, V S Gaitonde, and more.

In fact, Jeroo's first purchase was a work by Khanna from Gallery 59 (owned by Bal Chhabda) that was to be a birthday gift for her husband. Jeroo, who had visited the gallery with Rs 400, was mesmerised by the Khanna painting - which was priced at Rs 1500. She ended up selling off a piece of her jewellery just to make the purchase. Thus began the journey of the both of them gifting works of art to one another, with Naval having given Husain's Man with Horses to Jeroo the same year.

Jeroo's standing within the artist community was so strong that Husain had once called her to ask if he could paint a portrait of her. Jeroo, aware that Husain was flying out to Europe that very night had pushed it off at the time, suggesting that he do this upon his return. While they eventually set up two dates in Mumbai and Delhi for the portrait, Husain failed to appear on either, and the portrait was thus never done.

Besides her journey in art, Jeroo also excelled in sport and business. She, along with Namrata Apparao, won the doubles title in the prestigious Western India tennis championships. She also won the mixed doubles title in the All India championship, along with Joydeep Mukherjee. In addition, she represented India for bridge in the Venice Cup, the world championships for women. In the 1970s, she opened a popular chain of book shops named Danai, eventually operating 11 book shops in Bombay, Poona, Madras, Delhi, and Tirupati.

Even after Naval's untimely demise in 1973, Jeroo continued being an integral part of the art community. She remarried Tony Mango, who was Managing Director and Deputy Chairman of Rallis India - a company he took to new heights - as well as the Consul General for Greece in Bombay in 1965, and continued to buy works of art. She has now passed the baton onto their son, Bahram and wife Arati who continue to follow her footsteps when it comes to their affinity for collecting art.

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