Lot 16: Nasreen Mohamedi (1937-1990)

Nasreen Mohamedi (1937-1990)
Untitled
ink on paper
25 x 15 in. (63.4 x 38.8 cm.); 25 x 15 in. (63.4 x 39.5 cm.); 17 5/8 x 11 7/8 in. (44.9 x 30 cm.)
Painted circa 1965
Set of three works (3)

Gift from the artist to the present owner circa 1973

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, MUMBAI
This lot is offered without reserve.
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium
December 1st 1966, Jaisalmer:
Dry space - sand
Bare shrubs forcing existence
[...]
Arid - richness almost complete
Coarse, black cracks -
Dust, skinlike earth
Coarse sounds, filigree against sky [...]
(NASREEN IN RETROSPECT, Ashraf Mohamedi Trust, Bombay, p. 86)

Nasreen Mohamedi's diary entries from around the time that these works were executed allow the viewer a very personal insight into the thought processes that motivated the artist to execute these complex works. Whilst a precursor to the austere geometric paperworks of the mid-1970s and onwards, her works of the mid-1960s are an equally critical, yet often under-estimated, part of her oeuvre. This period saw Nasreen creating works of great vitality: we are presented with landscapes that are almost blown apart by quick daubs of ink and use of wash technique. There is an undeniable debt owed in this period to her training at Central St. Martins, London, and to her interaction there with the British artist Peter De Francia.
(Text by Mortimer Chatterjee)