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Lot Essay
On his graduation from the Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta, in 1956, Sakti Burman moved to Paris where he studied at École Nationale des Beaux Arts and began his explorations of the great cities of Europe. On his first visit to Italy in 1958, his encounter with the frescoes of Giotto, Piero de la Francesca and Simone Martini inspired Burman to try and incorporate their sense of monumentality and their distinctive textures in his own work. Soon, the artist perfected a unique technique, combining marbling and pointillism to imbue his compositions with fresco-like surfaces.
In these marbled paintings, Burman drew his subjects from his own family alongside a host of Indian and European mythological and literary sources. Reflecting his own life, where his Indian heritage was integrated with experiences and knowledge he gained in Europe, these tableau-like paintings occupy a world of their own, suspended between the spheres of allegory and reality.
Unsurprisingly, Burman is sometimes referred to as an ‘alchemist of dreams’. In the present lot, The Artist Painting Adam and Eve, he invites viewers into realms where reality and fantasy converge. Here, the everyday setting of Burman’s studio merges with the biblical story of creation. The artist depicts himself at the easel with paintbrush in hand, while Adam and Eve stand behind him, posing like live models waiting for the artist to finish their portrait. As with most of Burman’s works from the period, in this masterpiece, distinctions between interior and exterior spaces, allegory and lived reality, begin to blur.
While Adam is turned away, Eve looks towards the serpent perched upon the tree, holding the apple it has given her moments before they commit the original sin. Burman depicts his serpent with the body and face of a woman, echoing medieval portrayals of the scene and the Hindu mythological figure of the naagini as well. The artist further defines the interior space by including figures that are not represented in his ‘painting within a painting’. Among them, Burman paints a reclining nude figure upon a sofa, and in perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the painting, a child, possibly his daughter Maya, who sits on the floor in front of the couch with a macaque as her companion. Possibly a subtle commentary on the theory of evolution, this portrayal stands at odds with the biblical narrative of Adam and Eve in Genesis, which describes the creation of the first humans by the hand of God. Offered as a whimsical conversation between religion, art and science, the present lot represented Burman’s exploration of existence and truth.
Talking about his process and state of mind while creating these works, the artist noted, “A sensation from the outside world suddenly hits me, upsets me. My feelings grow to such an extent that I find it necessary to give them a form in order to free myself from them. A painting is for me, an explanation that I owe myself. Silence and meditation have opened to me a world where nothing is impossible. I am suddenly conscious of a new life-force that compels me to express myself and define what I see. Next comes the joy of work, the pleasure of handling colors which fascinate me. My love of life seems complete only when I have put it down on my canvas. It is an intense joy” (Artist statement, ‘Indian Painters in Paris’, Lalit Kala Contemporary 4, New Delhi, 1966, p. 12).
In these marbled paintings, Burman drew his subjects from his own family alongside a host of Indian and European mythological and literary sources. Reflecting his own life, where his Indian heritage was integrated with experiences and knowledge he gained in Europe, these tableau-like paintings occupy a world of their own, suspended between the spheres of allegory and reality.
Unsurprisingly, Burman is sometimes referred to as an ‘alchemist of dreams’. In the present lot, The Artist Painting Adam and Eve, he invites viewers into realms where reality and fantasy converge. Here, the everyday setting of Burman’s studio merges with the biblical story of creation. The artist depicts himself at the easel with paintbrush in hand, while Adam and Eve stand behind him, posing like live models waiting for the artist to finish their portrait. As with most of Burman’s works from the period, in this masterpiece, distinctions between interior and exterior spaces, allegory and lived reality, begin to blur.
While Adam is turned away, Eve looks towards the serpent perched upon the tree, holding the apple it has given her moments before they commit the original sin. Burman depicts his serpent with the body and face of a woman, echoing medieval portrayals of the scene and the Hindu mythological figure of the naagini as well. The artist further defines the interior space by including figures that are not represented in his ‘painting within a painting’. Among them, Burman paints a reclining nude figure upon a sofa, and in perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the painting, a child, possibly his daughter Maya, who sits on the floor in front of the couch with a macaque as her companion. Possibly a subtle commentary on the theory of evolution, this portrayal stands at odds with the biblical narrative of Adam and Eve in Genesis, which describes the creation of the first humans by the hand of God. Offered as a whimsical conversation between religion, art and science, the present lot represented Burman’s exploration of existence and truth.
Talking about his process and state of mind while creating these works, the artist noted, “A sensation from the outside world suddenly hits me, upsets me. My feelings grow to such an extent that I find it necessary to give them a form in order to free myself from them. A painting is for me, an explanation that I owe myself. Silence and meditation have opened to me a world where nothing is impossible. I am suddenly conscious of a new life-force that compels me to express myself and define what I see. Next comes the joy of work, the pleasure of handling colors which fascinate me. My love of life seems complete only when I have put it down on my canvas. It is an intense joy” (Artist statement, ‘Indian Painters in Paris’, Lalit Kala Contemporary 4, New Delhi, 1966, p. 12).