Page 132 - Pundole's Auction M0015

70 #

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT INTERNATIONAL
COLLECTION

JAGDISH SWAMINATHAN

1928?–?1994

Untitled

Oil on canvas
1993
31? × 46 in. (81 × 117 cm.)

Signed and dated ‘J. Swaminathan / ’93’ and further
signed and dated in Devanagari on reverse

??30,00,000?–?50,00,000

$ 44,775?–74,625

At the end of the 1980s, Swaminathan’s works change
dramatically in subject as well as technique. He moved
away from the explorations of the Bird, Tree, and Mountain
series that had occupied him for the previous decade, and
returned to his original point of interest, the role of tribal
motifs and folk art in his own work.

In this new stage of his work, ‘vision opens itself to the
visible; the vision does not organise the visible, nor does it
bestow meaning upon it, constituting it into a sign. The
surface of the canvas ceases to be a two-dimensional
support system upon which is represented a world,
whether abstract or figurative. The surface becomes an
arena within which to act and from which the creative
act and its material world arise.’ (K.B. Goel, ‘The Other’, Lalit
Kala Contemporary 40, March 1995, p. 82)

Visually, the works return to the imagery of the 1960s
with graffiti, geometric shapes and texture playing an
important role. Some of the elements draw inspiration
from specific folk symbols and legends; others are entirely
of Swaminathan’s own creation. Geometric shapes,
especially triangles and squares also appear and take on
symbolic significance. Whatever traditional imagery he
references, by taking them out of their context and placing
them into his paintings, he bridges the traditional and the
contemporary. The overall effect is an energised picture
plane, vibrating with movement and vigour.

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