Lot 291: Narayan Shridhar Bendre (1910 - 1992)

Braiding Hair Signed and dated in Devanagari lower right Oil on canvas 36 1/8 x 47 15/16 in. (91.7 x 121.8 cm.) NOTES Bendre left Baroda in 1966 and returned to Bombay where he would live for the rest of his life. This painting was done shortly after his return, and marks a return to figurative subject matter after a period of abstraction and experimentation with Cubism. At this time, Bendre tended to focus on images of rural women, engaged either in social interactions, or in creative tasks such as painting or playing music. These comfortable domestic scenes were rendered with a minimum of stylization and a preference for two-dimensionality. Unaffected simplicity is the prevalent tone in this picture, where the use of bright colors and deliberate lack of detailing creates a spatial tension and emphasizes rural serenity. There is no modeling or shadow to the figures. Yet, there is some hint at perspective, as the women are solidly placed in the foreground of the encompassing surroundings that form the background of the painting. 'I belong to this earth. I walk on this earth, and I don't think of anything but this earth.... I don't create dream paintings. Whatever I have experienced in this world I paint.' (N.S. Bendre, Drawings and Paintings, New Delhi, Vadehra Art Gallery, 1992.).