Important Notice

In the late 1970s, Manjit Bawa’s experiments with space and form developed into the style he would be celebrated for. The “rubbery limbs” of his earlier works gave way to now?familiar fluid figures. Jagdish Swaminathan observed of Bawa’s creations, “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... In the late 1970s, Manjit Bawa’s experiments with space and form developed into the style he would be celebrated for. The “rubbery limbs” of his earlier works gave way to now?familiar fluid figures. Jagdish Swaminathan observed of Bawa’s creations, “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)

These fully realised forms, instantly recognisable as man and animal, were closer to realism than the syncopated, abstract forms that populated his earlier phase. Despite the apparent realism, the elegant lines of these figures are reminiscent of traditional Indian painting. Noted Swaminathan, “Manjit’s figure is at once an assertion of a tradition and its negation. It hardly owes anything to the realism of the West and its expressionistic aftermath. If any linkage has to be traced, perhaps, it could be related to the Pahari miniature tradition or even to pre? miniature Pahari painting. There is a certain bonelessness, a pneumatic quality to Manjit’s figure which echoes both folk Pahari painting and the tantric frescoes of Himalayan Buddhism.” (Jagdish Swaminathan, “Dogs Too Keep Night Watch”, Manjit Bawa: Let’s Paint the Sky Red, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2011, p. 36)

In the present lot, Bawa-who was inspired by Sikh oral narratives and Indian mythology-foregrounds a flautist delicately balanced on an incandescent yellow creature. Its tonal intensity is matched by the blazing green and yellows of the flautist’s turban and flute. The artist was deeply drawn to a vivid Indian palette. Unimpressed by the staid colour schemes of European art, he created work rich with the bright hues that enlivened his boyish recollections of home. Said Bawa, “Childhood impressions of fleeting russet sunsets remain forever inside my mind’s eye; like the vibrant pinks, greens, yellow, purples and other colours that paint our Indian landscape in bold shades, I seek to make them an integral part of my language.” (Artist quoted in Ina Puri, Manjit Bawa…in His Own Words, New Delhi: Roli Books, 2000, pp. 12?13)

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