Lot 40
  • 40

GULAM RASOOL SANTOSH | Untitled (from the Black Period)

Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • Gulam Rasool Santosh
  • Untitled (from the Black Period) 
  • Signed in Devanagari and signed and dated 'Santosh / 73' on reverse 
  • Oil on canvas board
  • 23⅞ x 20 in. (60.7 x 51 cm.)
  • Painted in 1973

Provenance

Acquired from Kumar Gallery, New Delhi in 2002

Condition

There is minor dust and spots of discoloration notable along the black border. This work is in overall good condition. It could benefit from a very light clean. The blues are lighter in reality.
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 1964, Gulam Rasool Santosh had a mystical experience that was to have a profound effect on his work. ‘I went to Amarnath in the sixties, purely as an artist-tourist. But the truth is, that unknown to me, this yatra (journey/pilgrimage) changed my life, the way I think. Upon my return from the yatra, a ‘new’ poetry was born.’ (K. Singh, Awakening: A Retrospective of G.R. Santosh, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2011, p. 39) Santosh became fascinated by religious traditions within Kashmiri Shaivism, a branch of Indian philosophy. This came to influence his art as the awareness and consciousness that stemmed from frequent meditation and practice of Tantra took form in his paintings as transcendent imagery. He launched himself at the vanguard of the neo-Tantric movement, associated with painters such as K.C.S. Paniker and Biren De. Here he has implemented ancient tantric iconographies and subsequently reinterpreted them by reducing them to abstractions, culminating in the construction of a fresh aesthetic language.

Many of the Tantric works, especially from the early 1970s, such as this one, were engulfed in black borders and backgrounds. At this time, when Santosh started experimenting in tantric art, he strongly aligned himself spiritually with goddess Kali, who is one of the proponents of Kashmiri Shaivism.  He is thus known to have referred to these seminal works as his ‘black period.’

This vertically symmetrical picture plane consists of an anthropomorphic figure leaning out with a meditative stare. Santosh has decorated the body with yantras, or sacred geometrical symbols, that signify the regenerative aspects of consciousness. The head is composed of a circular naad bindu, representing the cosmos in its equivocal state, sharing an axis with the geometric tantric shape at the abdomen. The curved contours delineate a voluptuous feminine aspect, softening the angular lines representing the female principle of divine energy and power that first creates and then preserves the universe.