Important Notice

“Each line drawn, each form shaped, tone, colour, the tension, space, proportion, their interrelation, has its reason to be, its proper logic, a logical existence, sequence, and consequence.” – AKBAR PADAMSEE

Akbar Padamsee has consistently returned to the portrait over the course of his long artistic career. His portraits feature faces that are rarely identifiable, but are nonetheless real, both in terms of the realism of their... “Each line drawn, each form shaped, tone, colour, the tension, space, proportion, their interrelation, has its reason to be, its proper logic, a logical existence, sequence, and consequence.” – AKBAR PADAMSEE

Akbar Padamsee has consistently returned to the portrait over the course of his long artistic career. His portraits feature faces that are rarely identifiable, but are nonetheless real, both in terms of the realism of their features, as well as the emotions they exhibit. “I draw my figures and forms from the world that I know intimately, but viewers also find there is a sense of detachment or alienation in them. My figures are not heroic creatures, nor are they angst-ridden, shattered beings. They exist, and on their flesh and bones is stamped the experience of living.” (Artist quoted in an interview with Paromita Chakrabarti, The Indian Express, 20 September 2015, online)

Padamsee’s figuration underwent several changes over the decades. In the 1950s, when he moved to Paris, the female forms he painted transformed from what he terms “elemental” to the “physical”, followed by larger works with less defined lines and contours in the late 1950s. From the 1980s onwards, “the mood of the figures became pensive and sad.” (Artist quoted in Chakrabarti, online)

This is evident in the present lot that was painted in 1998. The colour palette of deep reds and luminescent oranges presents an interesting counterpoint to the downcast expression on the unidentified woman’s face. One notices Padamsee’s figuration being “heavier than that of the sixties but not much different. The bodies and faces have aged a little. There are single figures and couples. The mood is one of irrevocable sadness. The heads are turned away from the aridity which life holds.” (Ella Datta, Akbar Padamsee: The Spirit of Order, New Delhi: Art Heritage, 1988-1989, online)

The present lot, with a pensive, possibly older subject displays this “experience of living” in Padamsee’s typically aloof, yet emotion-laden portrayal.

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