Akbar Padamsee (b.1928)

Minor craquelure in several areas, not visible in catalogue illustration. Painting appears to have been recently relined and cleaned. Minor abraision in hair above right shoulder. Whites fresher and greater contrast in original than catalogue illustration.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

'For Akbar Padamsee, painting is a direct result of tensions created by "the linear, the formal, the tonal and the chromatic." His images alternate between the human figure and the landscape, and between primary and tertiary colors - anchors that allow him to enjoy an aesthetic variety to a successful conclusion.' (Amrita Jhaveri, A Guide to 101 Modern and Contemporary Indian Artists, Mumbai, 2005, p. 60).

In 1959 Bal Chhabda opened Gallery 59 and at the end of the year he organized a solo exhibition of Akbar Padamsee's paintings at the Jehangir Art Gallery that included famous works from his gray period such as Juhu Beach. During his gray period, Padamsee worked with an almost ascetic restraint renouncing all color and confining himself to the rigor of working with this monochromatic palette of gray. 'A light gray and a dark gray can be used as opposite poles. A scale is established between them with a centre stretching toward the extremities...gray is without prejudice. It does not discriminate between object and space.' (Vakils, Padamsee, Sadanga Series).  At different stages in his career the artist has often created such aesthetic means of self-discipline. For instance, painting in single tones of color, or restricting himself to the red-orange spectrum, or else using only charcoal on canvas. The images are frequently pared down to the essential in a particular aspect. '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.'  (Shamlal, Padamsee, Sadanga Series).

'By restricting himself to grays, like the Chinese masters who confine themselves to the various shades of black, he strikes the richest vein of poetry in his art. In the paintings of 1959 and 1960 there is a lyrical intensity which comes from a passionate love affair. The affair is between the artist and his art, naked and defenseless.' (Shamlal, rpt. In Padamsee, 1964; p. 7).

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. Padamsee's nudes provide a fascinating insight into the development of his visual language and creative process. The sharply defined outlines of his early works later gave way to fluid contours that embraced elements of informal abstraction.   Throughout his career the artist has been preoccupied with mapping the human form and capturing its emotive qualities. 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. Their central theme is the solitary figure, defined by a sense of vulnerability and loneliness. The artist expresses his absorption with the solitary state by stating that, 'expression is all the more powerful when it is about a solitary figure or just a face.' 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).  In this early nude painted at the peak of his short-lived gray period, he balances a dream-like quality with dynamic energy using textural and compositional juxtapositions creating a form that suggests a 'landscape' of the body. In fact this type of experimentation paved the way for the creation of Padamsee's distinctive Metascapes of the 1970's.

'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).