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PROPERTY FROM THE RUXANA PATHAN COLLECTION
1
K H ARA
(1914 ‒ 1985)
Untitled
Signed 'ARA' (lower left)
Watercolour on paper
21 x 26.5 in (53.2 x 67.3 cm)
Rs 7,00,000 ‒ 9,00,000
$ 11,115 ‒ 14,290
PROVENANCE
From the personal collection of the artist
PROPERTY FROM THE
RUXANA PATHAN COLLECTION
2
K H ARA
(1914 ‒ 1985)
Untitled
Signed 'ARA' (lower right)
Watercolour on paper
19.75 x 28.75 in (50 x 73 cm)
Rs 7,00,000 ‒ 9,00,000
$ 11,115 ‒ 14,290
PROVENANCE
From the personal collection of the artist
K H Ara, a largely untrained artist, “did some evening work in a studio doing...
object drawings, passed a Teacher’s examination and painted under all sorts
of influences.” (Rudy von Leyden, “Ara,”
Critical Collective
, online) These words
don’t quite do justice to the extraordinary range of Ara’s repertoire. He was
encouraged and influenced by Walter Langhammer to a great extent. Perhaps
because he did not have formal training, Ara’s curiosity and desire to learn led
him to read and research from as many sources as were available to him in
Mumbai. He studied various forms of modern art in Europe, experimenting
with cubism, deconstructivism as well as more traditional formalism. But
ultimately, Ara’s art was his own. “Ara’s achievement lay in fusing a raw
sensuality with a calculated structuring, thereby revitalizing the entire still life
genre. He constantly experimented with paint to acquire what he describes as
the ‘honest expression of form.’” (Yashodhara Dalmia,
The Making of Modern
Indian Art: The Progressives,
New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 133)
Leyden, Langhammer, and Dr. Homi Bhabha were early admirers of his art and
there is a fine collection of Ara’s work at the Tata Institute of Fundamental
Research. Lots 1, 2 and 30, which range from a village landscape and horses that
seem to have an European influence, to a classic still‒life with flowers, offer a
glimpse into the width and depth of his practice.
© Jyoti Bhatt
Image courtesy of Asia Art Archive
verso