Jagdish Swaminathan (1929-1994)

Gallery Chanakya, New Delhi 1972

Good overall condition. Colors fairly accurate in catalogue illustration.
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While large-format painting is not an unusual feature for Swaminathan, the current work from 1972 is exceptional for its monumental scale. Not only is it the largest work from the artist's iconic Bird, Tree and Mountain Series in auction history, it is also the fourth largest Swaminathan canvas ever to appear at auction. 

In works from the early 1970s, the artist experimented with the current complementary color palette—chartreuse and periwinkle; tangerine and sage—to great effect. The minimalist composition presents the viewer a study in triangulated, multidimensional spaces. The geometric planes, when viewed in relation to the botanical element, hummingbird and hawk, appear one dimensional; however, when viewed from the "apex" of each mountain, three-dimensional tetrahedrons emerge.

From the white visual center of the current work, the eye of the viewer is drawn to the triangular dynamic of the botanical element, hummingbird and hawk—the latter of which makes a unique appearance on a Swaminathan canvas.  

The negotiation of geometric space is highly redolent of mandala principle central to esoteric Indian iconography. In the Bird, Tree and Mountain Series, Swaminathan brings together aspects of the indigenous aesthetic, including Indian miniature paintings with their simple compositions and forms, coupled with a bold use of color. In the 1960s and 70s, Indian artists explored the manipulation of these esoteric symbols and concepts in the synthetic artistic movement of neo-tantrism. Swami's experimentation in this regard can also be seen clearly in both his earlier and later abstract works.

"Given the life of the canvas and the colors," explains Swaminathan, "a painting is immutable, fixed and eternal. It does not know growth or decay. Yet it has a life of its own, inasmuch as it is never the same to any two persons in space or even the same person in time. It is moving yet still, changeless yet changing." (Jagdish Swaminathan, "The Traditional Numen and Contemporary Art," in Lalit Kala Contemporary, April 29, 1980, pp.5-10)