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PROPERTY OF AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTION, NEW DELHI
66
A RAMACHANDRAN
(b. 1935)
The Waterlilies Seller
Signed and dated with artist stamp ‘RAMACHANDRAN 2004’
(upper right); signed, dated and inscribed ‘RAMACHANRAN
/ 2004 / ‘The Waterlilies Seller’’ and dated again ‘2004’ (on the
reverse)
2004
Oil on canvas
59.25 x 35.25 in (150.2 x 89.7 cm)
Rs 30,00,000 ‒ 40,00,000
$ 44,780 ‒ 59,705
PROVENANCE:
Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
EXHIBITED:
A Ramachandran: The Universe in the Lotus Pond
, New Delhi: Vadehra
Art Gallery; Kolkata: Birla Academy of Art and Culture, 2006
PUBLISHED:
Ella Datta ed.,
A Ramachandran: The Universe in the Lotus Pond
, New
Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2006, p. 35 (illustrated)
Rupika Chawla ed.,
A Ramachandran: Bahurupi
, New Delhi: Vadehra
Art Gallery, 2009, p. 147 (illustrated)
A Ramachandran was born in Kerala in 1935 and
trained as a sculptor and muralist. His idealised
images of women draw from his observations of
the Bhil community of Rajasthan, where he spent a
considerable amount of time. They formed the basis
of his paintings of women, such as the present lot
showing a seller of water lilies, which are native to
the region. By the 1980s, he had imbibed the culture
of Rajasthan and adopted a vibrant colour palette.
His use of decorative motifs, powerful lines, and rich
colours added a dramatic effect to an otherwise
ordinary scene.
“Ramachandran is not content to merely represent
the world of natural phenomena as perceived by
the human eye. He transposes the visible reality into
tropes expressing a personal philosophy, an idealised
vision of the world where the poor are indeed
inheritors of the earth... in traditional Indian art such
a vision of the natural environment was used as a
metaphor of heavenly bliss.” (Ella Datta,
Face to Face:
Art Practice of A. Ramachandran
, Mumbai: The Guild
Art Gallery, 2007, p. 15)
Image courtesy of Manisha Gera Baswani