Important Notice

"I feel like an instrument executing a creative impulse, a creative flow which is within me. It directs me, instructs me, it decides for me and it leads me as well." - M V DHURANDHAR

In the early decades of the twentieth century, M V Dhurandhar's rise in popularity among the masses was also complemented by an increasing demand for his works amongst the royal families of the region. Dhurandhar's work was remarkable for its ability... "I feel like an instrument executing a creative impulse, a creative flow which is within me. It directs me, instructs me, it decides for me and it leads me as well." - M V DHURANDHAR

In the early decades of the twentieth century, M V Dhurandhar's rise in popularity among the masses was also complemented by an increasing demand for his works amongst the royal families of the region. Dhurandhar's work was remarkable for its ability to reach both "the common as well as the elite class," and he accordingly was "offered commissions for paintings on religion and deities." (Suhas Bahulkar quoted in Kishore Singh ed., "M V Dhurandhar," Masterpieces of Indian Modern Art II, New Delhi: DAG, 2017, p. 222)

In 1933, he received a royal commission from the Maharaja of Chhota Udaipur, a princely state in Gujarat. The commission included the creation of 16 murals that "represented the diversity of work in which, so far, he had proved his skill, consisting of paintings ranging from subjects of mythology to landscapes as well as representations of Indian seasons."(Ritu Vajpeyi Mohan ed., M V Dhurandhar: The Romantic Realist, New Delhi: DAG, 2018, p. 51)

The themes decided upon included 'Scenes of the Lakes in Chhota Udaipur,' 'Ruins of Pavagad,' 'Draupadi Vastraharan,' 'Rasleela,'' among others. "While there was some unpleasantness in the commercial agreement and how it was ultimately settled, the works that Dhurandhar left behind in Chhota Udaipur were indeed grand." (Mohan ed., p. 51) The present lot, painted in 1934, was created as a part of the same commission. It depicts the Kusum Sagar Lake, named after the late queen Kusum Kunverba of Chhota Udaipur. Capturing a picturesque view of the lake, framed by temples, it is a rare work, and among the very few landscapes by Dhurandhar that depicts a temple.

The present lot reflects both Dhurandhar's 'princely eye for detail' and his dedication to the realist school he subscribed to. Rendered in painstaking detail, each element in the composition here also demonstrates his skill and "keen understanding of the play of light and shade."(Mohan ed., p. 23) While he remains faithful to Western academic realism here, Dhurandhar successfully adopts the style for a scene that is distinctly Indian, displaying his "ability to combine cultures" which "earned him respect gaining him imperial as well as royal patronage. As a result, several of his works found their way to museums, chiefly within the Presidency." (Mohan ed., p. 23)

Dhurandhar contributed significantly to the academic style that was popular at the time by creating "impactful works that rooted the alien style in an Indian ethos, thereby bridging the European and the Indian and extending the discourse around the making of a then contemporary Indian art in the early nineteenth and twentieth century." (Mohan ed., p. 23)

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