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61
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED
PRIVATE COLLECTION, NEW DELHI
24
KRISHEN KHANNA
(b. 1925)
Concert at 115 LLyods Rd
Signed 'K Khanna' (lower left); signed and inscribed 'K
Khanna/ KRISHEN KHANNA/ "CONCERT AT 115 Lloyds
Rd"' (on the reverse)
Oil on canvas
48 x 60 in (121.7 x 152.2 cm)
Rs 60,00,000 ‒ 80,00,000
$ 95,240 ‒ 126,985
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist
Krishen Khanna’s early paintings of musicians
stemmed from his growing interest and engagement
with Carnatic music in the 1950s. Khanna had moved
with his family to 115 Lloyds Road, Nungambakkam
in January 1953, to work for the Chennai branch
of Grindlays Bank. His four month‒old daughter,
Rasika, developed a serious interest in Bharatnatyam.
To nurture her interest, Khanna would often invite
leading musicians and dancers to their home. These
included the eminent
mridangam
players Palghat
Mani Iyer and his protégé Palghat Raghu, the flautist
Mahalingam, and the violinist T N Krishnan, among
others. Khanna also frequented Carnatic concerts with
Narayana Menon, then Director of the All India Radio,
who was instrumental in introducing Khanna to these
luminaries.
Khanna’s interest in Carnatic music intensified with
his own artistic pursuits. He attempted to capture the
lyricism and dexterity of the musicians on his canvases.
These paintings “range from rapid gestural experiment
to more carefully constructed compositions, in
which the rhythm of the work emerges from the
vertical‒horizontal positioning of the musicians and
instruments.” (Gayatri Sinha,
Krishen Khanna: A Critical
Biography
, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2001, p. 48)
Khanna brought to “the act of painting the dextrous
speed of the music. He was intrigued by the informal
manner inwhich a raga began and then entered a formal
structure. His attempt was to transform the creation of
rhythmic sound in time, into the movement of brush in
space.” (Sinha, p. 48) The present lot captures the mood
of a concert organised at his Lloyds Road residence.