GANESH PYNE (1937 - 2013)
Signed & dated ’98 in Bengali lower right; also inscribed verso with a poem, signed & dated twice in English & Bengali
Dimension: 11.81 x 15.3 in
Provenance
Gifted by the artist to his good friend in Kolkata
Important Private Collection, USA
Property of a Senior Advocate
Notes
An outline sketch of the painting has been done in pencil on the reverse, with the following inscription in English "In Shadow Deep, the lady poised; with grace, a bird in hand whispers of elegant grace" ......"Dear xxxx, With Love", Signed & dated.
Literature
“Ganesh Pyne’s palette with stark whites, russets and shades of yellow and red ochres in full-bodied elegance looks strong and overpowering. His palette is warm in affirmation that the fear of the Unknown can only be resolved by facing the Unknown…Tempera as an emotional device added body to his images and heightened their presence.” (Excerpt from ‘An Enchanted Space, The Private World of Ganesh Pyne’, Sovan Som, Pg 24)
Born into the volatile socio-political atmosphere of pre-independent India, Pyne grew up in his ancestral house, an old, dilapidated building in Kolkata. As a child with shy and reticent demeanour, his close companion was an ageing grandmother, who wound a fantastical world around her young progeny, inhabited by mythological characters. These memories formed the base for his pictorial explorations in the later years. An alumnus of the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Kolkata, his forms are very structured and often give the impression of skeletal scaffolding.
This work by Ganesh Pyne is an example of his work focused on the ‘in between’ spaces. Moments of time that are neither fully bright, nor wholly dull. The sharp structure of the woman is contrasted by the fluidity of the bird. Against the rich ochre in her saree, the bird appears to blend into the dark unknown background. Every painting by Pyne tells a story to its viewers. Sovan Som remarks “While viewing a painting by Pyne we can feel his touch, in fact his presence, in his inimitable signature strokes. It seems that we are in personal communion with the figures in his painting.” (Excerpt from ‘An Enchanted Space, The Private World of Ganesh Pyne’, Sovan Som, Pg 25)
