Important Notice

Ghulam Rasool Santosh was a pioneer of neo-Tantric art. He forayed into concepts of Tantricism in the 1950s, following a visit to Amarnath. "The pristine sacred site of Shiva and the sophisticated exegetical tradition of Kashmirian Agamas were to leave a lasting impression on his later works." (Kishore Singh ed., Manifestations 5: 20th Century Indian Art, New Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery, 2011, p. 151) Santosh was also greatly influenced by... Ghulam Rasool Santosh was a pioneer of neo-Tantric art. He forayed into concepts of Tantricism in the 1950s, following a visit to Amarnath. "The pristine sacred site of Shiva and the sophisticated exegetical tradition of Kashmirian Agamas were to leave a lasting impression on his later works." (Kishore Singh ed., Manifestations 5: 20th Century Indian Art, New Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery, 2011, p. 151) Santosh was also greatly influenced by the mystic traditions of the Sufis of his native Kashmir.

Works such as the present lot "... were neither totally abstract nor non-representational. They were imbued with specific symbolic connotations and fused with the mysterious juxtaposition of celestial geometric forms, and complex mystical colours inspired by a personal symbolic vision." (Pran Nath Mago, Contemporary Art in India: A Perspective, New Delhi: National Book Trust India, 2001, pp. 94, 95) The seated female figure, which suggests a manifestation of Shakti, is created through geometric shapes and a precise symmetry which is complemented by a soft, glowing colour palette.

In an essay titled "A Post-Independence Initiative in Art," fellow artist Nilima Sheikh writes of G R Santosh's work, "The interlock of the contour in traditional Indian figuration with the Cubist design that had emerged at Baroda found its corollary in contemporary exotica - the cultic celebration of the contour via the abstractions of votive imagery and colour field dynamics." (Gulammohammed Sheikh ed., Contemporary Art in Baroda, New Delhi: Tulika, 1997, p. 80)

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