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Lot 33

 

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Cruelty to Woman epitomises Bhupen Khakhar's concerns with violence in society. Without resorting to visual metaphors or euphemism, Khakhar forces the viewer to confront brutality. "He was unafraid to show wounds, be it physical, psychological or social... Bhupen Khakhar was drawing real people and real bodies. They are not constructed images." (Geeta Kapur quoted in the Hindustan Times, 14 February 2016, online)

His... Cruelty to Woman epitomises Bhupen Khakhar's concerns with violence in society. Without resorting to visual metaphors or euphemism, Khakhar forces the viewer to confront brutality. "He was unafraid to show wounds, be it physical, psychological or social... Bhupen Khakhar was drawing real people and real bodies. They are not constructed images." (Geeta Kapur quoted in the Hindustan Times, 14 February 2016, online)

His work became thematically more explicit over time, and often confronted sensitive topics, such as homosexuality. His painting style reflected this directness, as observed by Kamala Kapoor: "translucent, unmixed colors-airy blues, pinks, greens and yellows, sometimes against a blaze of untouched white background-appear brushed on in one shot, without overlays or revisions, and the forms seem free to situate themselves in the world... in an instant of momentous clarity." ("A Subversive Rasa," Bhupen Khakhar: A Retrospective, Mumbai: The National Gallery of Modern Art, 4-26 November 2003, p. 18)

"In Khakhar's case, though radical political and social statement has not been a conspicuous determinant in the work, it has dealt in ingenuous and ingenious ways with the several aspects of socio-political stratification in the country. Issues of class, the gender divide, sexual preferences, aesthetic hegemonies and the paradoxes and realities of middle class living in subjectively loaded representations have continued to be articulated through a passionate fidelity to the painterly medium." (Bhupen Khakhar, p. 17)

A chartered accountant by profession, Khakhar was a self-taught artist who developed an interest in art during his student years at Bombay University. He began painting in the 1960s, after moving to Baroda and acquiring an MA in Art Criticism from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M S University, Baroda. The artist's paintings are part of several private and public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In June 2016, the Tate Modern in London will inaugurate a major six- month retrospective on the artist, You Can't Please All.

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