In the past seven months, Vadodara art has seen an upswing at Christie’s. While Bhupen Khakhar’s painting sold for Rs 18.81 crore, Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh’s canvas notched a whopping Rs 11.60 crore. The art circle is abuzz with these two names. In addition, in September, artist K.G. Subramanian’s “The Blue Pool” fetched Rs 40 lakh. He was a lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts in MSU, Baroda.
Eminent artist, poet and critic Gulam Mohammed Sheikh has been a key figure in Indian art. Reflecting on contemporary sociopolitical conditions in his work, he has trained generations of artists at MSU Baroda.
Speaking on conditions of anonymity, a city-based art dealer informed that Ghulam Sheikh’s painting was picked up by the Kiran Nadar Museum in Delhi. At Rs 11.60 crores, it was purchased for 10 times its estimated price.
Titled, “How Can You Sleep Tonight,” the artist has shared in the past that the painting mirrored the country’s political scene of the 1990s. Completed after a two-year exacting work in 1994, it is a huge square that runs 213.4 cm in length and breadth. “My painting’s title was inspired by Suryakant Tripathi’s verse Nirala, even though the work happened as a fallout to the turbulent times. We went through the Mumbai blasts, the Babri demolition and nature’s fury unleashed as storms in Vadodara. It was then, that I started to re-examine the heritage of Indian devotional, spiritual and mystical traditions from an artist’s point of view,” he added.
Likewise, Bhupen Khakhar’s works have seen a renewed demand. A leading artist in Indian contemporary art, he was a member of the Baroda Group and gained international recognition for his work. Khakhar was a self-trained artist, and started his career as a painter relatively late in his life. His works were figurative in nature, concerned with the human body and its identity. An openly gay artist, the problem of gender definitions and gender identity were major themes of his work. His paintings often contained references to Indian mythology and mythological themes.
In “Banyan Tree,” Khakhar expertly balances the public and private, openness and intimacy in a series of vignettes played out against a vast, hilly scene. Here, the large banyan tree with its wide, sheltering cover and hanging roots may be read as a microcosm of the artist’s life, representing a home, a school, a marketplace, a shrine, and, most personally, a secluded space for clandestine conventions.
Subramanian’s “The Blue Pool” is a 48in x 48in acrylic on canvas. Recognised as one of the pioneers of Indian Modern Art, K.G. Subramanian, fondly known as ‘Mani da’, was instrumental in creating a post-independence identity for India through his art. Influenced strongly by Indian folk and traditional artforms, but also by western ideas such as Cubism, his work won international acclaim due to its universal appeal. His exceptional contributions to society throughout a career spanning over six decades, won him India’s highest civilian awards, including the Padma Shri in 1975, Padma Bhushan in 2006 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2012, with his name being etched in history as one of India’s finest artists.
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