Lot 53 | 5 March 2023

 

 

LOT 53

LAXMAN PAI

B. India, 1926 – 2021

Sunset Waves, 1977

Signed and dated “Laxman Pai 77” on lower left. Name, date, medium, and title on verso

Oil on canvas

86 x 76 cm

Private Collection, Singapore

RM 10,000 – 22,000

Born in January, 1926 in Margao, Goa, India, Laxman Pai received his earliest art education in India’s Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai. The artist has admitted to having a deep and intense adoration for natural beauty, as this artwork suggests. While Pai usually paints with bright and bold colours, this pen and ink work is in monochrome, drawing greater focus to the image depicted. His canvases are densely populated with nature in all her moods, and his human characters are always depicted in relation with their environment. All of Pai’s art is a reflection of his impressions and it is free from any commentary. Most of his work is based on chance encounters and experiences that have left a mark on his mind be it good or evil. His earlier paintings borrowed generously from ancient Egyptian sculptures with bodies that were portrayed front on with the faces in profile.