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Saffronart | Evening Sale
The present lot is a series of terracotta bottles which, in
treatment and form, echo artefacts from archaeological
excavations seen inHimmat Shah’s native Lothal.The objects
suggest a story that might lead back to ancient times, and
yet recall the still‒life paintings of everyday objects that are
a staple of modern art. Shah’s interest in the intersection of
the ancient and modern worlds is evidenced in the creation
and grouping of these terracotta forms.
The use of terracotta also reflects the artist’s interest in
“India’s longstanding village economies, supported by
the cycle of the birth and rebirth of the essential material,
clay. Only some terracotta objects pass into history, many
do not bear the imprint of the artist, and all speak of the
early wonder of man mimicking nature.” (Gayatri Sinha,
An
Unreasoned Act of Being,
Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing
and Hampshire: Lund Humphries, 2007, p. 38)
Himmat Shah was born in 1933 in Lothal, Gujarat, close to
ancient Harappan ruins. He trained at the Sir J J School of
Arts in Bombay and later in Baroda, following these with
a scholarship in Paris. Shah incorporates diverse influences
in his work, drawing upon his personal history, as well as
the collective narrative of civilisation. He began working
with terracotta, later moving to cast bronze sculptures. A
retrospective on the artist’s works was hosted by the Kiran
Nadar Museum in New Delhi earlier this year.
Himmat Shah
© Jyoti Bhatt
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