Indian & Himalayan Art Through a Contemporary Lens

Indian & Himalayan Art Through a Contemporary Lens

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   The Shape of Things

  The interest in and use of geometry to create structure and order in artistic composition is something that appears in traditions around the world. The Tibetan Thangka that hangs at the upper right is from the 14th century while Alexander Calder’s Untitled at the lower left was painted in the early 1960s.
  
  <sub>(Clockwise from Top Left)
  
  Alan J. Shields, French Pot Boiler. Estimate $1,000–2,000.
  
  A Thangka Depicting a Hevajra Mandala Tibet, Second Half of the 14th Century, circa 1370-1380. Estimate $800,000–1,200,000.
  
  Ilya Bolotowsky, Red Tondo. Sold for $25,000.
  
  Alexander Calder, Untitled. Sold for $32,500.</sub>
  

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   About Face

  The approach to rendering facial features, particularly in the way these artists – though creating in far different times and places – continue the line of the eyebrow down the face to form the nose is striking. The serenity of the Gilt-Bronze Head of Buddha, produced in Thailand circa the 16^th century is perhaps equally pronounced in Alex Katz’s drawing on paper, Alba from 1991.
  
  <sub>Alex Katz, Alba. Sold for $18,750.
  
  A Gilt-Bronze Head of Buddha Ayuttahaya Style, Thailand, Circa 16th Century. Estimate $25,000–35,000.</sub>

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   The Power of the Word

  Writers, scribes and artists throughout the ages have taken to prose to express ideas and artistry, creating works of art that often transcend the meaning of the words themselves. The works here – 16th-century manuscripts from India alongside a thought-provoking conceptual piece by Barbara Kruger – might be separated by 400 years, yet share the power of the written word.
  
  <sub>A Group Of Four Illustrations To A Kalpasutra Manuscript, India, Gujarat Or Rajasthan, circa 16th Century. Estimate $4,000–6,000.
  
  Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Read Between the Lines). Sold for $4,000.</sub>
  

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   Silhouettes & Symbols

  Juxtapositions of two objects placed side by side can have an impactful, often bewildering effect on the viewer. Such is the case seen in this 2/3rd century, halo backed bodhisattva representing light, holiness and all that is good, versus the stark contrast of a silhouette splattered onto a stop sign from New York’s dark, seedy, and everything-but-holy 1980's Lower East Side.
  
  <sub>Richard Hambleton, Orchard St. Sold for $162,500.
  
  A Grey Schist Bust of a Bodhisattva, Ancient Region of Gandhara, Kushan Period, 2nd/3rd Century. Estimate $80,000–120,000.</sub>
  

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   Form & Figure

  The approach to figuration is often something that is highly stylized and specific to cultural conventions. The way we see and reflect the human form is something that, while ubiquitous, often varies dramatically. Contemporary artists have inherited a global language of the human form that continues to inform representation.
  
  <sub>(Left to Right)
  
  A Pink Sandstone Figure of a Yakshi India, 11th Century. Estimate $2,000–3,000.
  
  A Sandstone Female Torso Khmer, Bayon Period, 13th Century. Estimate $15,000–20,000.
  
  Willem de Kooning, Untitled.</sub>
  

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   In Full Bloom

  The flower has long been a symbol of femininity. At right an 18th century watercolor from India depicts a lady being serenaded, a beautiful complement to an ink and watercolor by Andy Warhol from 1957.
  
  <sub>Andy Warhol, Female Head. Sold for $43,750.
  
  A Lady Being Serenaded, India, Kangra, circa 1800. Estimate $6,000–8,000.</sub>
  

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  Sacred Geometry

  In delicious juxtaposition, rounded arcs and sharp points imbue these two works with symmetry, tension and the suggestion of symbolism. The shared shapes and lines found in an Alfred Jensen work on paper from 1980 and in a 2nd/3rd century stone Buddha carving remind us that geometry is not only eternal, it is sacred.
  
  <sub>A Grey Schist Antefix of a Scene of Buddha A=and Bodhisattvas Ancient Region of Gandhara, Kushan Period, 2nd/3rd Century. Estimate $5,000–7,000.
  
  Alfred Jensen, Outside Inside/Inside In [In 2 Parts]. Estimate $10,000–15,000.</sub>
  

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   Seeing Double

  The chief of Shiva’s army of attendants, Adhikaranandi adored his Lord and was an ideal devotee, waiting patiently to receive his grace. For this reason he is posed with Suyasa, reflecting Shiva and Uma’s manifestation together as mutually empowering entities – a divine couple perfectly conceived as a unit. Since the 1980s, British artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster have collaborated together, consistently turning out self-portraits and other works that explore representations of the double. Through graphics, collage, sculpture and their own naked forms, the creative duo have presented their duality as a critique of narcissistic obsession.
  
  <sub>A Copper Alloy Figure of Adhikaranandi & Consort South India, Chola Period, 13th Century.
  Estimate $400,000–600,000.
  
  Tim Noble and Sue Webster, An Apocalyptic Greeting. Sold for $125.</sub>
  

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   Energy in Motion

  The buffalo-headed deity Vajrabhairava is depicted in the midst of frenetic energy, bared fangs, wearing a skull crown with flaming red hair. His thirty-four arms, holding various ritual objects, create a sense of motion. Perhaps equaling the deity in its expressive force is Hans Hoffmann’s ink and crayon on paper, Untitled, which almost screams with intensity.
  
  <sub>A Parcel-Gilt Copper Alloy Figure of Vajrabhairava Tibeto-Chinese, Qing 18th Century. Estimate $25,000–35,000.
  
  Hans Hoffman, Untitled. Estimate $8,000–12,000.</sub>
  

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