- 557
Jehangir Sabavala
Estimate
120,000 - 150,000 USD
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Description
- Jehangir Sabavala
- Untitled (Waterlilies)
- Signed and dated 'Sabavala '66' lower right and bearing Chemould Frames label on reverse
- Oil on canvas
- 27 x 40 in. (68.6 x 101.5 cm.)
- Painted in 1966
Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist in Bombay in the 1960s
Condition
This painting is in overall very good condition, as viewed. The yellow flower on the left and the brown flower in the center appears slightly more saturated in the print catalog.
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.
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.
Catalogue Note
“In [Sabavala’s] quest for [the] sublime – austere, geometricizing stylization, opulent, sensuous understanding of color – optimal balance between abstraction and representation – summation of different streams poured into his works” (R. Hoskote, Pilgrim, Exile, Sorcerer: The Painterly Evolution of Jehangir Sabavala, Eminence Designs Pvt. Ltd., Bombay, 1998, p. 99).
At the time that Jehangir Sabavala created this work, he was searching outside the practice of creating art towards looking internally and to his own meditative practice. He experimented with sects of mysticism and poetry, and other spiritual practices that focused inwards towards the center of one’s soul. His work and the poetic journey he embarked on to come to reach the point where the practice of his art was a physical manifestation of his journey.
“I seem more drawn to the sea and sky of the western seaboard and to the ridges and dunes of our desert areas. To the arid waste of Rajasthan where all is adobe-colored, and land and sky merge into one, but no focal point is ever lost” (ibid., p. 100)
In addition to fortifying his subject matter, Sabavala was in the midst of cementing his now iconic style of blending Cubism with Modernist traditions. He divides the work into three parts and displays all the flowers and leaves on the same plane.
Applying Cubist technique, Sabavala is able to take the same coloring technique of this painting and apply it to the overlaid geometric shapes. The emphasis on asymmetry adds to the textured effect that enhances the abstracted façade. Mimicking the toning process, the color included in this work was gently added on layer by layer, slowly working off the adobe-colored base.
The muted colors and light palette used in this work further recalls to ideas of a desert and the sun-bleached colors one would find there. Through using his interaction with the world, Sabavala was able to further portray scenes with almost a meditative attention. Using texture and color to create a sense of environment, this works takes a break from his broad landscape images and hones in on a view of a floral setting. This specific vista is made all the more intimate by allowing all of his varying influences to come together to create a symphonic whole.
At the time that Jehangir Sabavala created this work, he was searching outside the practice of creating art towards looking internally and to his own meditative practice. He experimented with sects of mysticism and poetry, and other spiritual practices that focused inwards towards the center of one’s soul. His work and the poetic journey he embarked on to come to reach the point where the practice of his art was a physical manifestation of his journey.
“I seem more drawn to the sea and sky of the western seaboard and to the ridges and dunes of our desert areas. To the arid waste of Rajasthan where all is adobe-colored, and land and sky merge into one, but no focal point is ever lost” (ibid., p. 100)
In addition to fortifying his subject matter, Sabavala was in the midst of cementing his now iconic style of blending Cubism with Modernist traditions. He divides the work into three parts and displays all the flowers and leaves on the same plane.
Applying Cubist technique, Sabavala is able to take the same coloring technique of this painting and apply it to the overlaid geometric shapes. The emphasis on asymmetry adds to the textured effect that enhances the abstracted façade. Mimicking the toning process, the color included in this work was gently added on layer by layer, slowly working off the adobe-colored base.
The muted colors and light palette used in this work further recalls to ideas of a desert and the sun-bleached colors one would find there. Through using his interaction with the world, Sabavala was able to further portray scenes with almost a meditative attention. Using texture and color to create a sense of environment, this works takes a break from his broad landscape images and hones in on a view of a floral setting. This specific vista is made all the more intimate by allowing all of his varying influences to come together to create a symphonic whole.