LOT 54
SHANTI DAVE
B. India, 1931
Island of Thoughts
Signed and titled on the verso
Oil on canvas
61 x 61 cm
Private Collection, USA
RM 12,000 – 25,000
Born in Badpura, Gujarat in 1931, Shantilal Somnath completed his graduate and post-graduate studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Maharajah Sayajirao University of Baroda under the tutelage of N.S Bendre. It was here that he co-founded the Baroda Group in 1957, alongside Bendre and other artists that included Bhupen Khakhar and Gulam Mohammed Sheikh. The group emphasised the importance of promoting contemporary art and incorporated elements from Rabindranath Tagore’s school, Shantiniketan, the Barnes Foundation and Bauhaus. The present lot with its use of oil on board medium, is an example of the sort of work that the artist is renowned for. The work illustrates a blend of western expressionism and Indian metaphysics and incorporates tantric elements and earthy obscurity.