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Lot Essay
Ardeshir Davierwalla was born in Bombay in 1922, and formally trained as a chemist. Initially working in a pharmaceutical factory, it was only in the late 1940s that he began experimenting with sculpture, teaching himself about various materials and techniques. After almost a decade of winning critical acclaim for his work including medals from the Bombay Art Society and All India Sculptors’ Association, Davierwalla gave up his factory job and turned to sculpture as a full time profession in 1959.
Davierwalla’s experimentation continued throughout his new career, and led to the production of a body of work that is truly diverse. This included pieces carved in stone, wood and marble, cast in lead and bronze, assemblages of scrap metal and wood, monumental welded steel sculptures, and works featuring perspex, aluminum and magnets. Acknowledging this ‘puzzling diversity’, fellow artist Gieve Patel noted, “And yet it is uniformity of concern that holds it all together. Over a number of years these various elements have contributed to a baffling, but quite unique orchestration. Davierwalla does not trace for us an easy line of discovery and development. The various strands in his work appear and vanish, expand into clear periods and patterns, and at unexpected moments reappear in a low key.” (G. Patel, A.M. Davierwalla, New Delhi, 1971, unpaginated)
Galaxy, created in 1966 with pieces of found metal and glass, recalls a primitive, almost anthropomorphic representation of the universe. Two crescent forms, each suspending a free-moving starburst, appear to balance on opposite arms of a primeval kneeling Atlas-like figure. Apart from illuminating the refined artistic sensibility Davierwalla developed by the mid-1960s, this iconic sculpture also draws from his scientific past and his close association with Homi Bhabha and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). A dynamic monument to pioneers like Bhabha who led the technological developments of the time and the expansion of our understanding of the universe, in Galaxy, brass locks, drawer handles and small glass ampules are transformed into elements of a cosmos whose expanse we are only beginning to comprehend.
Writing about Davierwalla’s work from this period shortly after his untimely death in 1975, Jaya Appasamy observes, “In his later works Davierwalla adopts a more abstract language and works mainly in metal. These metal constructions though they seem impersonal and technological have an iconic presence. Through their geometry he achieves a certain harmony and equilibrium. Perhaps the orderliness, clean edges and restfulness of these pieces were closest to the artist’s temperament. Davierwalla’s art thus abandons the old narrative subjects and portraiture in favour of forms which have to be judged as works of art simply on sculptural terms.” (J. Appasamy, ‘A.M. Davierwalla’, Lalit Kala Contemporary 21, 1976, p. 37)
Following his first solo show in 1956, Davierwalla’s works have been exhibited widely in India, and also internationally at venues including the 1963 Sao Paulo Biennale and the 1966 Venice Biennale. In 1965, the artist received Prize for Sculpture at the annual Lalit Kala Akademi exhibition, and in 1968 was awarded the John D. Rockefeller III Fund Fellowship. In addition, his work has been commissioned by the TIFR, India’s Atomic Energy Establishment and industrial houses like Larsen & Toubro and the Life Insurance Corporation.
Davierwalla’s experimentation continued throughout his new career, and led to the production of a body of work that is truly diverse. This included pieces carved in stone, wood and marble, cast in lead and bronze, assemblages of scrap metal and wood, monumental welded steel sculptures, and works featuring perspex, aluminum and magnets. Acknowledging this ‘puzzling diversity’, fellow artist Gieve Patel noted, “And yet it is uniformity of concern that holds it all together. Over a number of years these various elements have contributed to a baffling, but quite unique orchestration. Davierwalla does not trace for us an easy line of discovery and development. The various strands in his work appear and vanish, expand into clear periods and patterns, and at unexpected moments reappear in a low key.” (G. Patel, A.M. Davierwalla, New Delhi, 1971, unpaginated)
Galaxy, created in 1966 with pieces of found metal and glass, recalls a primitive, almost anthropomorphic representation of the universe. Two crescent forms, each suspending a free-moving starburst, appear to balance on opposite arms of a primeval kneeling Atlas-like figure. Apart from illuminating the refined artistic sensibility Davierwalla developed by the mid-1960s, this iconic sculpture also draws from his scientific past and his close association with Homi Bhabha and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). A dynamic monument to pioneers like Bhabha who led the technological developments of the time and the expansion of our understanding of the universe, in Galaxy, brass locks, drawer handles and small glass ampules are transformed into elements of a cosmos whose expanse we are only beginning to comprehend.
Writing about Davierwalla’s work from this period shortly after his untimely death in 1975, Jaya Appasamy observes, “In his later works Davierwalla adopts a more abstract language and works mainly in metal. These metal constructions though they seem impersonal and technological have an iconic presence. Through their geometry he achieves a certain harmony and equilibrium. Perhaps the orderliness, clean edges and restfulness of these pieces were closest to the artist’s temperament. Davierwalla’s art thus abandons the old narrative subjects and portraiture in favour of forms which have to be judged as works of art simply on sculptural terms.” (J. Appasamy, ‘A.M. Davierwalla’, Lalit Kala Contemporary 21, 1976, p. 37)
Following his first solo show in 1956, Davierwalla’s works have been exhibited widely in India, and also internationally at venues including the 1963 Sao Paulo Biennale and the 1966 Venice Biennale. In 1965, the artist received Prize for Sculpture at the annual Lalit Kala Akademi exhibition, and in 1968 was awarded the John D. Rockefeller III Fund Fellowship. In addition, his work has been commissioned by the TIFR, India’s Atomic Energy Establishment and industrial houses like Larsen & Toubro and the Life Insurance Corporation.