Page 119 - Historic-Masterpieces-Dec24

Lot No. 61
N S BENDRE

1910-1992

UNTITLED
36 x 38 in (91.4 x 96.5 cm)
Oil on canvas
Circa 1950
Signed: Bottom Right

` 1,20,00,000 - 1,60,00,000 | $ 148,148 - 197,531

Provenance: Property from a collection based in New Delhi.
This work was previously sold by Bonhams in 2000

Born in Indore in 1910, N S Bendre was a contemporary
of Nandalal Bose, Ram Kinkar Baij, and Benode Behari
Mukherjee. His artistic journey began at the State School
of Art in Indore in 1929, followed by a Government
Diploma in Art from Bombay in 1933. In 1947-1948,
Bendre travelled to the United States, where he was
introduced to the dynamic movements of 20th-century
Western art.

Bendre played a pivotal role in shaping modern Indian
art. He was a member of the committee that established
the Lalit Kala Akademi and served as Dean of the Faculty
of Fine Arts at M.S. University of Baroda from 1959.
Fondly known as Dada (elder brother) to his students,
he had a profound impact on Indian art education,
introducing fresh ideas and fostering an intellectual yet
informal learning environment. As an artist, Bendre’s
versatility in painting portraits, landscapes, and still lifes
earned him admiration, and his live demonstrations of
techniques inspired awe in his students.

Bendre’s talent was recognised early in his career when
he won the Silver Medal of Art from the Bombay Art
Society in 1934, followed by a Gold Medal in 1941. In
1948, he held a solo exhibition at Windermere Gallery,
New York, after which he returned to India and joined the
Progressive Artists’ Group.

The most significant phase of Bendre’s career
unfolded during his years in Baroda. Here, he explored
the synthesis of cubist, expressionist, and abstract
influences from Western modernism with Indian
formalist traditions. After retiring from Baroda in 1966,
Bendre began experimenting with his interpretation
of pointillism. His contributions to Indian art were
recognised with the Padma Shri in 1969 and the Padma
Bhushan in 1991.