Manjit Bawa’s celebrated style reached maturation in the late 1970s, when his then-abstracted fragmented forms coalesced into sinuous human and animal figures against a flat ground. Artist Jagdish Swaminathan noted on viewing the first of Bawa’s works in this style to be exhibited, “With these works, Manjit emerges as a painter of true significance. The breakthrough has come about through a double metamorphosis. His earlier figurative work, gave... Manjit Bawa’s celebrated style reached maturation in the late 1970s, when his then-abstracted fragmented forms coalesced into sinuous human and animal figures against a flat ground. Artist Jagdish Swaminathan noted on viewing the first of Bawa’s works in this style to be exhibited, “With these works, Manjit emerges as a painter of true significance. The breakthrough has come about through a double metamorphosis. His earlier figurative work, gave place to abstraction where pneumatic forms-both erotic and horrific–floated in a void of mauves, pinks and greens. This phase has now been negated, and the synthesis has resulted in breathtaking poetry. Here animals, plants and humans all cohabit, taking their birth from the same ethereal tissue, like balloons blown into various shapes, engaged in a purposive play which defies understanding.” (Swaminathan quoted in S Kalidas, “Let’s Paint The Sky Red: Remembering Manjit Bawa in Art and in Life”, Manjit Bawa: Let’s Paint the Sky Red, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2011, p. 17)

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