Kattingeri Krishna Hebbar

Acquired from Stägehus AG Basel, Exhibition of paintings by K. K. Hebbar, August 1967

Educated at the Sir J. J. School of Art in Bombay, Kattingeri Krishna Hebbar decisively rejected the academic realist technique he had been taught, instead seeking a compelling personal style that better suited the themes he yearned to explore. He was greatly inspired by classical Indian art forms – the murals of Ajanta, Jain manuscripts, the miniature tradition of the Mughal and Rajput courts – and influenced by the Western art styles he encountered while studying at the Académie Julian in Paris. Ultimately, Hebbar sought to formulate a personal artistic idiom that encapsulated not merely a visual, but a sensory response to his subjects and surroundings.

Landscape in Winter exemplifies Hebbar’s empathetic approach to his subject. Known for his depictions of rural life, in the current lot the painter focuses on a man and a woman in a winterscape. They carry heavy bags over their heads down an icy street, seemingly worn down by this labor. Behind them, the tall architectural structures and snowcapped mountains lengthen the frame, shrinking the figures in comparison. The humans’ size is diminutive, but Hebbar grants them an importance in the very act of painting them on his canvas.

Executed with broad brushstrokes and a soft, somber palette, this evocative scene speaks to the human presence within the built and natural environment, and the pathos of everyday labor.