Page 113 - Iconic Master

Lot No. 63

K H ARA

1914-1985
UNTITLED
29.5 x 21 in (75 x 53.3 cm)
Watercolour on paper
Signed: Bottom Right
` 15,00,000 - 20,00,000 | $ 18,750 - 25,000
Provenance: Property from a collection based in
Mumbai. Artwork was acquired by the present
owner directly from the artist

Artist K H Ara rose from the depths of adversity to
achieve great success ushered in by his exceptional
artistic merit. His journey, both in life and art, tells an
extraordinary tale of unwavering passion and dedication.
A prolific figure in the history of Modern Indian Art,
K H Ara contributed immensely to the birth of modernism
in India. He was also one of the founding members of the
Progressive Artists’ Group in 1947, along with F N Souza.
During his later years, he devoted himself to the Artists’
Centre in Bombay and inspired the next generation of
artists. He won the prestigious Governor’s Award in 1944
and a Gold Medal from the Bombay Arts Society in 1952.

Hailed as the first Indian painter to meticulously explore
the female form, Ara brought with him a spontaneity that
was independent of the tenets of academic painting. In
many ways, he adopted the European style of presenting
the nude form and calibrated it with his Indian roots and
aesthetics. Characterised by fluid curves and contours,
his nude forms exhibit a sense of sensuality, and an aura
of simplistic comfort.