Akbar Padamsee

Acquired directly from the artist in 1956
Private Collecton, Paris
Current owner

A tear of 1.25 inches has been repaired and filled in at the lower right corner along lower edge of thigh, cracks to background paint and small areas to face which have been consolidated and appear stable, painting appears to have been recently cleaned and varnished, original is lightler and brighter than catalogue illustration, good overall condition, as viewed.
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The nude is a recurring theme in Akbar Padamsee's work and in the early works from the 1950's we can see his close association with the Progressive Artists group and with the modernist idiom. With the exception of his early Lovers series most of Padamsee's nudes are isolated figures who have aged, endured sadness and whose bodies have witnessed the ravages of time.   There is however an indefinable transcendence about his figures that takes them beyond mere life studies, for his artistic concerns were not that of the realist but instead combine his personal obsession for compositional order with a deep humanist approach, that remains sensitive to the experience of the individual. 'What makes Padamsee's image of man different is that it is free of all pathos, sentimentality, nostalgia and even compassion.  It is as if he wants us to see that what man needs is not pity but understanding.' (Shamlal, Padamsee, Sadanga Series).

'Sensitivity to the human presence has been Akbar Padamsee's obsession, inspiration and purpose of his art.  Direct in a nearly-tactile way, but also sublimated and universalised, his heads and nudes initially exude a feeling of almost real persons.  Gradually, however they reveal themselves as distanced and generalised.  Sometimes strong, even harsh in their impact, and sometimes indistinct and ethereal.  Padamsee's images are never portraits of identifiable people.  In fact, they resemble a residual vision after an encounter.  An aura left by a presence transposed in the memory.  They come through like quick notations of transitory meetings, the heads and bodies deeply attuned to what is experienced within them, while also absorbing the proximity of their surroundings, especially other human presences.  The background becomes a part of the human situation imprinting it character and compulsions on people, and in turn being influenced by them - the process both violent and soothing.' (Marta Jakimowicz, Tracing Shadows of the Sublime, Akbar Padamsee Works on Paper - Critical Boundaries, Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai, 2004.) 

At different stages in his career the artist has often imposed certain aesthetic means of self-discipline.  For instance, painting in single tones of colour, or using the red-orange spectrum, or else using only charcoal on canvas.  The images are frequently pared down to the essential in a particular aspect. What is striking with these early nudes is the strong contrasts in colour and the texture and grid-like structure of the nude itself.  'Everything is said simply with an almost classical restraint.  Others may deplore the density of things which refuse to reveal their secret.  Padamsee is upset by how much they reveal.  The red-and-green nude painted by him in 1956 shows us more than we can bear to look at.  What is oppressive about this woman is not the weight of her flesh but her immense weariness of spirit which fills the whole picture.  She cannot even wish, like Hamlet for the too, too solid flesh to melt.  She knows it is no use.  She must carry it like a cross with her.' (Shamlal, Padamsee, Sadanga Series).