Lot 62: Rameshwar Broota (b. 1941) , Untitled Oil on canvas

Oil on canvas

20 by 20 1/2 in. (51 by 52 cm.)

PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
From the early days of his career Broota has focused on the contemporary human situation. His paintings of the 1960s depict emaciated despairing men. By the 1970s his figures transform into 'humanized' gorillas, the satirical paintings revealing the artist's concern for the morality of man. By the end of the decade there is a return to the figures of the 1960s but presented in a new style of paint application that has become his own hallmark style. This unusual technique involves covering a canvas in dark monochromatic tones and then etching the surface with a blade to reveal the lighter colors of the canvas beneath. The result is paintings that create the quality of an early etching, often resembling a monumental x-ray. The current work although untitled appears to be a rare self portrait but as with many of his other images an unsettling disquiet surrounds the figure. The wrinkled brow appears to be quietly questioning, but the dark eye sockets are reminiscent of his earlier monkey forms. It is furthermore interesting to note that the artist chooses to make his own eyeglasses the focus of his portrait, perhaps symbolic of the fear of blindness or at more fundamental level the fear of artistic block. As with his previous paintings and more recent works his self-portrait appears to comment on the inevitable decay of the human body. 'Rameshwar Broota's Man has over a period of time expressed existential anxiety, satire, heroism and more recently decay. The male nude has shadowed the artist from his early youth through creative maturity and middle age.' (Amrita Jhaveri, A Guide to 101 Modern and Contemporary Indian Artists, Mumbai, 2005, p. 22).