Dhruva Mistry

Acquired in Essex in 2009

A. Wilson, Dhruva Mistry, Bronzes: 1985-90, Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London, illustration no. 18 (edition not listed)

London, Nigel Greenwood Gallery, Dhruva Mistry, Bronzes: 1985-90, 17 October - 17 November 1990 (edition not listed)

From the iconic tubular bronzes of the late 1980s, through to the reimagined works in stainless steel from the 2000s onwards, Spatial Diagrams is an important series within Dhruva Mistry's oeuvre. The current lot, Spatial Diagram 5, is one of the early iterations of this seminal theme. A striking cylindrical female form in bronze, the work boldly counters positive and negative space. Mistry's late-80s Spatial Diagrams, produced during the decade of his pivotal move from India to England, have been widely exhibited around the UK, for instance at Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, and The Royal Academy, London. An edition of Spatial Diagram 5 is in the collection of Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (accession no. 1298).

'In a sculptural series titled Spatial Diagrams (1988-90), Mistry demonstrates his ability to transmute one distinct form into another - inanimate to animate and human to animal.

The inspiration for this series was a wooden chair, which the artist resolves into a female body. Though largely abstract, it is possible to identify the individual forms with which the works are created.' (A. Jhaveri, A Guide to 101 Modern and Contemporary Indian Artists, India Book House Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, 2005, p. 130)