Page 126 - AstaGuru Masters Legacy April 2024

Lot No. 32

BIREN DE
1926-2011

UNTITLED
42 x 42 in (107 x 107 cm)
Oil on canvas
1972
Signed & Dated: Bottom Left

` 15,00,000 - 20,00,000 | $ 18,293 - 24,390

Provenance: Property from an important collection
based in Mumbai.

Eminent modern Indian artist Biren De was born departed from New York, he had fully adopted the
in Faridpur (part of present-day Bangladesh) on Neo-Tantric movement, utilising geometric shapes
8 October 1926. He first moved with his family such as mandalas to explore the metaphysical. He
to Kolkata in 1944 to pursue his artistic studies executed impressive works in bright colours such as
at the Government College of Arts and Crafts. He vivid blues and bold reds to invoke divine energy. A
then began travelling extensively through Europe, large part of his oeuvre dealt with union of male and
starting 1949, exhibiting his works in places of female energies - symbolising them through hard-
renown including Salon de Mai in Paris in 1951. 1n edged shapes for man and u-shapes for women.
1959, he was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship, His ultimate goal throughout this exploration of
for which he resided in New York for a year. the consciousness was to arouse the psyche of not
just himself but the viewers. Among the recurring
He first began his artistic career as a portrait motifs in his oeuvre are a central bindu surrounded
painter, influenced by the Post-Impressionist by colour, wheels, the Sun, seeds and the lotus.
movement. By 1956, one could notice that his
figurative works were gaining abstract elements His myriad achievements throughout his lifetime
and becoming fragmented. Along with some peers, include teaching at the College of Art, New Delhi
De made a deliberate attempt to move away from from 1952 to 1963, national awards from Lalit Kala
the styles of Indian artists of yore and embrace Akademi in 1958 and 1964, and the Padma Shri
the inner workings of the mind. By the time he had award in1992.