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Lot Essay
The 1960s was a decade of innovation, experimentation and evolution in Akbar Padamsee’s visual vocabulary, as he travelled and worked between India, France and the United States of America. As Beth Citron notes, “In spite of (or perhaps because of) spending the 1960s transiting among urban hubs in three continents, imaginative natural landscapes became one of Padamsee’s central artistic projects during that decade [...] Never subsumed by wispy trees, romantic sunsets, or the limitations of conventional geography, Padamsee’s landscapes often transcended the representation of specific sites and physically accurate settings. Rather than an intent to describe the natural world per se, the artist’s object was the total conceptual and metaphysical ken of his visual environment, with his paintings impressing an immediate perceptual experience that relied on expression and sensation rather than realist recognition” (B. Citron, ‘Akbar Padamsee’s Artistic “Landscape” of the ‘60s’, Akbar Padamsee, Work in Language, Ahmedabad, 2010, p. 195).
During this decade, the genre of landscape painting emerged as the quintessential basis of Padamsee’s artistic practice, marking a shift from empirical representation towards conceptual non-naturalism. Form dominated color in his earlier years as is evidenced by his thick use of line, however, in the 1960s, the artist’s prioritization of color over form is evident. Padamsee experimented with various textures and techniques in his painting, juxtaposing dark and luminescent colors and using sharp and violent strokes of the palette knife to build up landscapes that alluded to universal experiences rather than specific geographies. “Dual pulls of matter and spirit are always patent in his work [...] He sees his paintings as a bed of tensions created by ‘the linear, the formal, the tonal, the chromatic’ on which the form describes itself or ‘remains in a fluid potential state’” (E. Datta, 'Akbar Padamsee', Art Heritage 8, New Delhi, 1988-89, p. 40).
Speaking about his relationship to nature, Padamsee observed, “Nature as idea and concept is the great creative-destructive force. The mighty monuments of art are ground to dust or ingested into nature’s belly, one might think nature resented art as an encroachment into her territory. But we are ourselves nature – by excluding nature who have shaped ourselves into artists. The terrible in nature enthralls us now, we placate these forces by giving them forms, we worship these forms and gain power over them, or we sacrifice ourselves to them. Our enclosures exclude nature, in these enclosures we include her in our language, the language of art. In appearance only it is sun and moon, tree and mountain. These forms belong to the language of art, they have emerged from line, tone, colour; when they disintegrate they merge into their origin, line, tone, colour, or the ultimate white of the canvas” (Artist statement, M. Marwah, ‘Akbar Padamsee - A Conversation,’ Lalit Kala Contemporary 23, New Delhi, April 1977, pp. 34-36).
In the present lot, a monumental landscape painted in 1969, it is the artist’s palette of blues and browns that lends order to the composition, rather than individual forms and figures. The viewer is offered a new experience of the scene on each encounter with this painting, as the lines and shapes Padamsee renders seem to keep shifting and assimilating into a large-scale panorama in different permutations, illustrating the disintegration of nature that Padamsee refers to above. The artist’s clever manipulation of color, light and texture forms the foundation of this kaleidoscopic experience. While there appears to be a shining sun at the upper left of the composition, it is only partially visible and does not seem to offer much illumination. Instead, Padamsee’s brushwork leads the eye to an ethereal glowing area at the center, an implied vanishing point perhaps, representing both an entry point and a destination for his viewers.
This deeply considered and restrained composition, populated only by brushstrokes and textural details, evokes a silence that echoes through nature. One of the most important examples of Padamsee’s paintings from this period, it validates the artist’s deliberate journey away from the human figure to center his focus on natural vistas instead. These consciously unpeopled landscapes evoke a rhetorical desolation, such that they no longer serve as merely formalist studies but rather as conceptualized narratives. In this sense, the artist’s landscapes from the late-1960s paved the way for his renowned series of Metascapes that followed the next decade, emphasizing his inquiries into the nature of human consciousness, time and space.
Bilwa Chowdhury and Eleonore Chowdhury-Haberl
Bilwa Chowdhury was one of the first serious collectors of modern Indian paintings in Bombay, active from the late 1950s through the 1960s. Born into a zamindar family from East Bengal, he developed a deep passion for art early in his life. After India gained independence in 1947, Chowdhury traveled to Germany to further his training as a chemical engineer. There, he met and befriended George Schäfer, a prominent art collector. Chowdhury went on to become the sole representative of FAG-Kugelfishcer in India, a manufacturing company run by Schäfer and his brother.
Although Chowdhury’s introduction to art collecting dated back to the late 1940s, he did not start collecting art himself until 1959, when he and his wife Eleonore established their home in South Bombay. The first painting they acquired was a still-life of flowers by Krishnaji Howlaji Ara, purchased from an exhibition the artist held at Jehangir Art Gallery in Bombay. This acquisition marked the beginning of the significant collecting journey that Bill and Lore, as the couple were known, set out on together. Apart from Jehangir Art Gallery, they frequented the other galleries that operated in Bombay at the time, including Gallery 59 at the Bhulabhai Desai Institute and the Taj Art Gallery, and also took a deep interest in classical music and dance.
At a time when Jehangir Art Gallery was the primary venue for art exhibitions in the city, the couple attended nearly every single show that was held there in the 1960s, often accompanied by their young daughters. They also frequently visited artists’ studios, fostering personal friendships with many painters like Maqbool Fida Husain, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde and Jehangir Sabavala. As many Indian artists, such as Francis Newton Souza, Sayed Haider Raza and Akbar Padamsee had moved abroad to study and paint at the time, the Chowdhurys would support them by acquiring their most important works from them when they returned to Bombay for exhibitions or visits. By the 1970s, the couple’s impressive collection included over 120 paintings and 30 works on paper by several Indian artists, including members of the Progressive Artists’ Group and their associates like Padamsee and Gaitonde.
As a consequence, the Chowdhury’s apartment was rapidly filled with art, sparking many different reactions. Writing about her years in Bombay, Lore recalled, “We were considered quite crazy by most of our friends. In fact visitors to our home frequently asked if I was the painter, because they could not understand that anybody would actually be willing to spend money on modern Indian art” (E. Chowdhury-Haberl, ‘A Progressive Patron’, Art India, vol. 7, issue 3, 2002, p. 51). Soon, however, the family home became a vibrant hub for artists and connoisseurs, where discussions and critiques on various forms of art were encouraged and flourished. Today, over 75 years since they purchased their first painting, Bill and Lore’s refined vision and discerning taste is widely acknowledged, and the remarkable group of artworks they put together is considered one of the foremost collections of modern Indian art globally. Not only did their vision support many of the country’s most important artists at the start of their careers, but inspired several others, including Jehangir Nicholson, to become patrons of the arts and begin building their own collections.
“Looking back at that exciting time of my life, I am proud and happy that I was able to witness a remarkable period in Indian art, and to be a part of it. It was a sort of postcolonial renaissance of Indian art, when Indian artists, having studied the great masters abroad, came into their own and set out to create something Indian yet universal. Looking back at these works now [...] it is obvious that they have achieved that goal” (E. Chowdhury-Haberl, Ibid., 2002, p. 52).
During this decade, the genre of landscape painting emerged as the quintessential basis of Padamsee’s artistic practice, marking a shift from empirical representation towards conceptual non-naturalism. Form dominated color in his earlier years as is evidenced by his thick use of line, however, in the 1960s, the artist’s prioritization of color over form is evident. Padamsee experimented with various textures and techniques in his painting, juxtaposing dark and luminescent colors and using sharp and violent strokes of the palette knife to build up landscapes that alluded to universal experiences rather than specific geographies. “Dual pulls of matter and spirit are always patent in his work [...] He sees his paintings as a bed of tensions created by ‘the linear, the formal, the tonal, the chromatic’ on which the form describes itself or ‘remains in a fluid potential state’” (E. Datta, 'Akbar Padamsee', Art Heritage 8, New Delhi, 1988-89, p. 40).
Speaking about his relationship to nature, Padamsee observed, “Nature as idea and concept is the great creative-destructive force. The mighty monuments of art are ground to dust or ingested into nature’s belly, one might think nature resented art as an encroachment into her territory. But we are ourselves nature – by excluding nature who have shaped ourselves into artists. The terrible in nature enthralls us now, we placate these forces by giving them forms, we worship these forms and gain power over them, or we sacrifice ourselves to them. Our enclosures exclude nature, in these enclosures we include her in our language, the language of art. In appearance only it is sun and moon, tree and mountain. These forms belong to the language of art, they have emerged from line, tone, colour; when they disintegrate they merge into their origin, line, tone, colour, or the ultimate white of the canvas” (Artist statement, M. Marwah, ‘Akbar Padamsee - A Conversation,’ Lalit Kala Contemporary 23, New Delhi, April 1977, pp. 34-36).
In the present lot, a monumental landscape painted in 1969, it is the artist’s palette of blues and browns that lends order to the composition, rather than individual forms and figures. The viewer is offered a new experience of the scene on each encounter with this painting, as the lines and shapes Padamsee renders seem to keep shifting and assimilating into a large-scale panorama in different permutations, illustrating the disintegration of nature that Padamsee refers to above. The artist’s clever manipulation of color, light and texture forms the foundation of this kaleidoscopic experience. While there appears to be a shining sun at the upper left of the composition, it is only partially visible and does not seem to offer much illumination. Instead, Padamsee’s brushwork leads the eye to an ethereal glowing area at the center, an implied vanishing point perhaps, representing both an entry point and a destination for his viewers.
This deeply considered and restrained composition, populated only by brushstrokes and textural details, evokes a silence that echoes through nature. One of the most important examples of Padamsee’s paintings from this period, it validates the artist’s deliberate journey away from the human figure to center his focus on natural vistas instead. These consciously unpeopled landscapes evoke a rhetorical desolation, such that they no longer serve as merely formalist studies but rather as conceptualized narratives. In this sense, the artist’s landscapes from the late-1960s paved the way for his renowned series of Metascapes that followed the next decade, emphasizing his inquiries into the nature of human consciousness, time and space.
Bilwa Chowdhury and Eleonore Chowdhury-Haberl
Bilwa Chowdhury was one of the first serious collectors of modern Indian paintings in Bombay, active from the late 1950s through the 1960s. Born into a zamindar family from East Bengal, he developed a deep passion for art early in his life. After India gained independence in 1947, Chowdhury traveled to Germany to further his training as a chemical engineer. There, he met and befriended George Schäfer, a prominent art collector. Chowdhury went on to become the sole representative of FAG-Kugelfishcer in India, a manufacturing company run by Schäfer and his brother.
Although Chowdhury’s introduction to art collecting dated back to the late 1940s, he did not start collecting art himself until 1959, when he and his wife Eleonore established their home in South Bombay. The first painting they acquired was a still-life of flowers by Krishnaji Howlaji Ara, purchased from an exhibition the artist held at Jehangir Art Gallery in Bombay. This acquisition marked the beginning of the significant collecting journey that Bill and Lore, as the couple were known, set out on together. Apart from Jehangir Art Gallery, they frequented the other galleries that operated in Bombay at the time, including Gallery 59 at the Bhulabhai Desai Institute and the Taj Art Gallery, and also took a deep interest in classical music and dance.
At a time when Jehangir Art Gallery was the primary venue for art exhibitions in the city, the couple attended nearly every single show that was held there in the 1960s, often accompanied by their young daughters. They also frequently visited artists’ studios, fostering personal friendships with many painters like Maqbool Fida Husain, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde and Jehangir Sabavala. As many Indian artists, such as Francis Newton Souza, Sayed Haider Raza and Akbar Padamsee had moved abroad to study and paint at the time, the Chowdhurys would support them by acquiring their most important works from them when they returned to Bombay for exhibitions or visits. By the 1970s, the couple’s impressive collection included over 120 paintings and 30 works on paper by several Indian artists, including members of the Progressive Artists’ Group and their associates like Padamsee and Gaitonde.
As a consequence, the Chowdhury’s apartment was rapidly filled with art, sparking many different reactions. Writing about her years in Bombay, Lore recalled, “We were considered quite crazy by most of our friends. In fact visitors to our home frequently asked if I was the painter, because they could not understand that anybody would actually be willing to spend money on modern Indian art” (E. Chowdhury-Haberl, ‘A Progressive Patron’, Art India, vol. 7, issue 3, 2002, p. 51). Soon, however, the family home became a vibrant hub for artists and connoisseurs, where discussions and critiques on various forms of art were encouraged and flourished. Today, over 75 years since they purchased their first painting, Bill and Lore’s refined vision and discerning taste is widely acknowledged, and the remarkable group of artworks they put together is considered one of the foremost collections of modern Indian art globally. Not only did their vision support many of the country’s most important artists at the start of their careers, but inspired several others, including Jehangir Nicholson, to become patrons of the arts and begin building their own collections.
“Looking back at that exciting time of my life, I am proud and happy that I was able to witness a remarkable period in Indian art, and to be a part of it. It was a sort of postcolonial renaissance of Indian art, when Indian artists, having studied the great masters abroad, came into their own and set out to create something Indian yet universal. Looking back at these works now [...] it is obvious that they have achieved that goal” (E. Chowdhury-Haberl, Ibid., 2002, p. 52).