Lot 42: HEMENDRANATH MAZUMDAR, 1894 - 1948 UNTITLED

Hemendranath Mazumdar, 1894 - 1948
Untitled
Hemendranath Mazumdar is best known for his classical academic oil paintings of women. Even though he lived and worked at a time when the British Academic tradition of oil painting had been sidelined in favor of the Bengal School revivalist style of painting as exemplified by the works of Abanindranath Tagore and his followers Mazumdar preferred to follow the style made famous in India by Raja Ravi Varma with a similar strong focus on classical idealised depictions of the female form. Like Ravi Varma he used the properties of oil paint to magically transform the canvas into a three-dimensional space that captured texture and depth on a flat surface. The tussle between the Bengal School and Western Academic painting at the turn of the century was often determined by the choices made by the principal of the Calcutta School of Art. The appointment of E.B. Havell as principal in 1894 gave tremendous support to the Bengal School tradition. However in 1909 he was replaced by an Englishman Percy Brown who again changed the focus of the curriculum to more academic training. This change of emphasis to academic naturalism allowed artists like Mazumdar to thrive. Although he is described as a self-taught artist he actually ran away from home to study at the Calcutta School of Art. He later moved on to the Jubilee Art Academy which further reinforced his academic approach to art. In the 1929 Illustrated Journal of Fine Arts Mazumdar wrote an article titled 'The Making of a Picture' in which he explains his painting techniques. He carefully followed the British academic technique as evidenced by his description: first producing preparatory sketches then more detailed pencil and wash studies prior to the final finely structured painting. Mazumdar painted portraits to make a living. Whilst these commissions provided a steady income he achieved both critical and commercial success for his semi-erotic images of scantily clad models. 'The subject of a rustic maiden returning home in a wet sari after her daily ablutions gave the artist scope to represent the models fleshy buttocks and rounded shoulders partially visible through her wet cloth... He lovingly delineated the rounded nape of the neck the fleshy contours of the shoulders the small of the back the concave of the spinal column the hips and buttocks. For all its clever suggestion of an arrested movement the work was carefully realised in the studio. In order to capture the particular pose he also used photographs.' (Partha Mitter The Triumph of Modernism: India's Artists and the Avant-Garde 1922 - 1947 New Delhi 2007 pp. 133-135.) These sensuous oils as seen in the current example as well became popular with several Maharajas at the time including the rulers of Jaipur Bikaner Kotah Kashmir Cooch Behar and other princely states. The Maharaja of Patiala Sir Bhupindranath Singh (1891 - 1938) even appointed Mazumdar 'Court Painter'.
Signed 'H.Mazumdar' lower right

42 1/4 x 24 in. (107.3 x 60.9 cm.)

Oil on canvas

1920s

Non Exportable item (see terms and conditions of sale)