Lot 122: Rameshwar Broota (b. 1941)

Rameshwar Broota (b. 1941)
MAN
signed, titled and dated 'R. Broota '91 'MAN' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 122 cm.)
Painted in 1991

The male figure has been a predominant feature throughout Rameshwar Broota's career as an artist. Beginning with stark renditions of the struggling underclasses and continuing to the 'Ape' series depicting anthropomorphized creatures in serio-comical settings illustrating human folly and corruption, Broota in the 1980s embarked on his 'Man' series that combines aspects of these themes whereby his primordial figures engage in an almost Darwinian struggle for survival. The athletic and virile figure depicted here is both monumental and mythical - a sentiment further reinforced by the rune-like images in the background. Since the 1980s Rameshwar Broota's discovery of a way to recycle unsuccessful canvases has led to the opposite of conventional painting technique using the canvas to build forms. Instead he adopted the reverse procedure whereby the form could be excavated to reveal itself or be released from its confined depths. "This process, unique to Broota, involves the over-painting of the canvas with layers of paint, notably silver, deep ochres and modified tones of black." (Gayatri Sinha, Rameshwar Broota, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2001, p. 29)