Lot 16
  • 16

JOGEN CHOWDHURY | The Grey Vase

Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 USD
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Description

  • Jogen Chowdhury
  • The Grey Vase
  • Signed indistinctly in Bengali and further signed and dated 'Jogen 76' lower right Bearing label on reverse '5.'THE GREY VASE' (MIXED MEDIA / 51 X 51 CMS/1976) / BY JOGEN CHOWDHURY/ NEW DELHI' 
  • Gouache, pastel and ink on paper pasted on board
  • 19 ¾ x 19 ⅞ in. (50.1 x 50.4 cm.)
  • Executed in 1976

Provenance

Acquired from a Californian Estate in 2009

Literature

This work will be reproduced in an upcoming publication on Jogen Chowdhury's still life works to be authored by Anuradha Ghosh and published by Niyogi Books, New Delhi in 2019.

Condition

There is slight creasing on the lower right corner and wear with associated losses along the lower edge. Minor wear to paper on the figures and vase are visible upon close inspection. Water stains on the black painted area appear inherent. This work is good condition as viewed and has not been inspected outside its frame. The colors are brighter in reality than they appear in the 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.

Catalogue Note

"The dynamics of the couple had been observed closely by the artist in most of his major paintings in what can be seen as moments of mute, interior drama that are played out in known, yet curiously unfamiliarized relational spaces. Still life elements are often utilized to articulate the submerged emotions inherent in the frames, and are at times treated as semiotic cues to the deeper play of meaning in the works that are primarily figurative. In The Grey Vase, executed in 1976- the flower vase is situated midway between two cropped figures, of a man and a woman, floating in uncertain space. It is an immensely significant work not only because it is the only one of its kind that uses centrally cropped figures, but also because of the way in which it subsumes a sense of transience within a tenderly lyrical frame of abiding love. The figures are exactly halved, carrying the visual suggestion that the whole can be captured only by combining the halves, indicating also that the lovers exist only as fragments of themselves prior to their coming together. The bodies are separated yet, while their hands meet at the point which is marked by the presence of the vase, celebrating, as it were, the moment of intimate contact.

The flowers are erect while the leaves have that inevitable downward droop- associated with death and decay- that can be noticed in many of his other works. The couple is holding hands in a delicate gesture of reassurance, while the flower vase, claiming central focus, silently keeps reminding us of the essential mutability of all life: the flowers in the vase, unrooted, will wither, just as time will also catch up with the lovers. But the presentness of the pristine, unspoiled moment freezes fulfillment in all its glory within aesthetic space: this delicate dialogue between love and mutability is a strand that seems to spring right out of a Shakespeare sonnet. Interesting, too, is the seeming suspension of the vase- it floats like a central icon in undefined space, curiously reminiscent of the space in which Muqi Fachang’s Six Persimmons float. It is a space that holds time, yet repudiates it, and is undefined because it is finally a conceptual space- beyond real-life visionary experience- where binaries are allowed to meet and coalesce." (Correspondence with A. Ghosh, the editor of a seminal upcoming publication on Jogen Chowdhury's still lifes, February 2019)