Ismail Gulgee (1926 - 2007)

Estimate

60,000 - 80,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

Ismail Gulgee
Untitled
Signed and dated 'Gulgee '87' lower left
Oil and gold leaf on canvas
60 by 84 in. (152.4 by 213.4 cm)

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist in the 1960's, when Gulgee was the artist in residence at Radcliffe College

Catalogue Note

"Ismail Gulgee began painting while training as an engineer from Columbia and Harvard Universities respectively, and held his first exhibition in the US in 1950.

"He continued to paint while secretary at the Pakistan Embassy in Ottawa during the 1950s, developing a reputation for portraiture. In 1957 he was commissioned to paint the portrait of King Zahir Shah of Afghanistan, and in 1959 he held an exhibition of 151 paintings and sketches in Kabul. He also painted portraits of Prince Karim Aga Khan (1961), Zhou Enlai (1964), Queen Farah Diba of Iran (1965) and President Ayub Khan of Pakistan (1968). He then turned to making portraits from marble mosaic and semi-precious stones, a technique that he had developed in Kabul in 1959."
(www.coloursofinspiration.com)

The current, large-scale work is an excellent example of Gulgee's vivid abstract oil and gold leaf style, highlighting the artist's sensitive treatment of color and affinity for mixing precious stone in his palette.