SAILOZ MOOKHERJEA | Untitled (Peace)

Collection of Prof. Herbert Härtel, Berlin
Sotheby’s London, 17 June 1998, lot 203
Prof. Herbert Härtel (1921 - 2005) was the first director of the Asian Museum in Berlin (Museum für Indische Kunst), previously called the Museum of Indian Art (1963 -2006). An internationally recognized Indologist, he was known for his tireless efforts to make Indian art history into an independent discipline in Berlin. His greatest success came in the organization of the excavations in Sonkh near Mathura (1966-74).

There is craquelere to pigment in areas of impasto and minute losses in the work, notably in the upper right (dove and above), head of figure in the center and the black symbol in the upper left. This work is in overall good condition for its age.
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Considered to be one of India’s most influential modernist painters, Sailoz Mookherjea was posthumously declared a National Art Treasure by the Indian government in the 1970s. His formative years as an artist were spent at the Government College of Arts in Kolkata (then Calcutta) under the tutelage of stalwarts like Abanindranath Tagore. The artist later moved to Delhi, seeing the new urban center as uncharted territory at a time when modernism was gaining ground in Bengal.  While interested in European modernism, Mookherjea developed a style of painting that was resolutely his own, largely inspired by his Indian context and the art historical heritage of the Subcontinent. Rural and urban scenes from northern India and Rajasthan take pride of place in the artist's compositions. These are often scattered with anonymous faces and characters in local dress, and always alive with energy and movement. The present work is an excellent example of the expressive brushwork and vivid colors for which the artist became known. Titled Peace, this current work incorporates various symbols and motifs related to both war and peace, including Ho Chi Minh, Hitler, Stalin and Gandhi and was amongst Mookherjea's last painted works.