Lot 602: NARAYAN SHRIDHAR BENDRE (India 1910-1992)

Vanjare
signed and dated in Devanagari (lower right)
oil on canvas
36 1/8 x 36 in. (91.6 x 91.4 cm.)

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE TIMES OF INDIA GROUP, INDIA.

Bendre left Baroda in 1966 and returned to Bombay where he would live for the rest of his life. His move marked a return to figurative subject matter after a brief interlude with abstraction and cubism. Even while experimenting with Western techniques, his choice of subjects remained closely linked to his surroundings and to India as a whole. Throughout his career, Bendre was drawn to representing rural women in various landscapes and domestic settings.

In the present work from 1988, he has once again returned to the theme of the banjaras. The banjaras or gypsy ladies are from Rajasthan and are immediately recognisable through their colourful clothing and specific choice of jewelry, especially their armlets and bangles.

The work has flat expanses of colour executed with short expressionist brushstrokes and minimal stylisation. Bendre avoided shadow and perspective in his works with little attempt to create receding planes between the foreground and the background. Rather, the effect of depth is conveyed through a gradual elimination of detail.