Sadanand K. Bakre (Indian, 1920-2007)
Landscape
inscribed Bakre 1962 in Devanagari lower right and signed and dated verso
oil on board, framed
45.8 x 60cm (18 1/16 x 23 5/8in).
Footnotes:
CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF THE PROGRESSIVE ARTISTS

Provenance
Private Collection UK; Acquired from a shop in Lancashire in the 90s.

Note: There is a label on the reverse from Burton Gallery, Burton in Wirral, Cheshire which includes the artist's name, the title, medium, the name of the original collector and the date 30th November 1966. In addition, the artist has signed and dated the work in English and Devanagiri, and there is an address 19 Street Helens Garden, London, W.10. The size of the work 18 x 24 is also written, along with LAD 8434.

Born in Baroda, Bakre was one of the six founders of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group in 1947. He studied at the Gokhale Education Society School, where his talents were encouraged, and at the age of sixteen, he held his first solo exhibition at school, where he showcased his clay models of drapery, watercolour landscapes, still life and figurative works. He subsequently enrolled at the Sir J.J School of Art and received his Diploma in Sculpture in 1944. Always looking for new ways to express himself, he abandoned the medium in 1951 when he moved to London and turned his focus to paintings. The present work was created during the 60s, when Bakre's style evolved considerably. Often considered the most important period for his oeuvre, he moved away from academic realism to abstraction, and was influenced by the sculptors Henry Moore and Jacob Epstein and the jagged and repetitive style of the British Vorticists; they were a group formed in London in 1914 who wanted to create art that expressed the dynamism of the modern world. This period is characterised by the visual similarities between his paintings and sculptures and their bold geometric lines. He perhaps best describes this period himself 'I paint as I like... I am traditionally trained and perfectly capable of accomplishing completely realistic work. But my interest in forms has gone far beyond the dull imitations of subject matter, which to me is almost unimportant.' (S. Bakre, All Art Is Either Good or Bad, Free Press Bulletin, March 24, 1965). For a similar work sold in these rooms see, Bonhams, Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art, London, 25th October 2021, lot 46.