Page 178 - Historic-Masterpieces-Dec24

Lot No. 88
BIKASH BHATTACHARJEE

1940-2006

UNTITLED
35 x 35 in (89 x 89 cm)
Oil on canvas
1992
Signed & Dated: Top Left

` 40,00,000 - 50,00,000 | $ 49,383 - 61,728

Provenance: Property from a collection based in Mumbai

During the decade of the 1990s, Bikash Bhattacharjee once again
turned his attention towards depicting the human condition with
sensitively rendered works that focused on the less privileged
and marginalised population in Kolkata of the time. Drawing
inspiration from the struggles of his personal life, he had also
intently observed the hardened socio-cultural aspects of his city
with its dark mood, labyrinthine lanes, crumbling buildings, and
persistent political unrest.
The vulnerable populace affected by this dark social environment
of a city always on edge emerged as protagonists of the artist’s
tragic canvases from the time. His penchant to portray loneliness
and desolation got impeccably translated onto the canvas.

He carefully implanted the textural effects of the medium he
worked with and rendered the image with hyperrealism. Often
painted against ominous black backgrounds, these unkempt
figures from the 1990s with their ragged clothes and hollow
gazes, became a common theme in his works.