LOT 77
LAXMAN PAI
B. India, 1926 – 2021
Jeevanotsav, 1995
Oil on canvas
62 x 62 cm
Signed and dated “Laxman Pai ‘95” on lower right
Artist name, title, year and dimensions written on the verso
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Kuala Lumpur
RM 10,000 – 22,000
Laxman Pai was one of the leading figures of modern Indian art, born in Margao, Goa. He trained at the Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai and laterspent a decade in Paris, where exposure to European modernism enriched his distinctive visual language. He was a three-time Lalit Kala AkademiNational Award recipient, received the Padma Shri in 1985 and Padma Bhushan in 2018, and served as Principal of the Goa College of Art from1977 to 1987.
In Jeevanotsav, Pai celebrates the vitality and sensuality of life through a striking female figure enveloped by an exuberant profusion of flowers. Bold, rhythmic lines and vibrant hues of orange, yellow, red and blue create a richly textured composition in which figure and nature appear to merge. The expressive, almost dreamlike treatment of the woman reflects Pai’s characteristic use of stylised human forms, nature and decorative motifs, while the floral abundance lends the work a sense of joy, beauty and celebration.
Notably, Jeevanotsav was also the title of a 1995 solo exhibition by Laxman Pai, documented in the Tuli Research Centre’s archive.