Hey everyone! I have been inspired by the last blog and wanted to keep on writing about some prolific artists that will be featured in our upcoming auction! Although this isn’t as in depth as the last, I want to highlight more of the amazing works and artists that we at Bruneau & Co. have had the opportunity to handle. This week we are leaving the United States and going to India, delving into the backgrounds of four influential 20th century artists.

First up we have an architectural landscape painting comprised of vivid blue and orange by Ram Kumar. Kumar is considered one of the leading and most important modernist and abstract painters of India. He was associated with the Progressive Artists Group along with other influential artists such as M. F. Husain, Tyeb Mehta, and S. H. Raza. From 1949 to 1952 after studying economics, Kumar studied at the Sarada Ukil School of Art in New Delhi before traveling to Paris to study art under Andre Lhote and Fernand Leger. In 1969, Kumar travelled to the United States and Mexico on a Rockefeller Scholarship with much of his following works reminiscent of his travels to Northern India, Machu Picchu, and the Buddhist monasteries of Ladakh. He was also awarded the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan Awards. Another work we have consists of multiple surrealist ink drawings by Manjit Bawa. Bawa studied at the School of Art, New Delhi under Somnath Hore, Rakesh Mehra, Dhanaraj Bhagat, B.C. Sanyal, and Abani Sen. Bawa also worked as a printmaker in England while studying at the London School of Painting where he refused to be influenced by European styles and found inspiration in Indian mythology and Sufi poetry.  We also have two dynamic wild horse charcoal drawings by Sunil Das, one of the most prominent post-modernist artists of India. Das studied at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts and traveled to Spain where he found a love of bulls and horses. Das’s work has been greatly influenced by his study of sculpture at Santiniketan, Kolkata, and his study of graphic art in Paris. Finally, we have a male nude figure drawing by Jehangir Sabavala. Sabavala was born to an affluent Parsi family, earning a diploma in art at Mumbai’s Sir J. J. School of art in 1944. From there, Sabavala studied at the Heatherley School of Fine Art, Academie Andre Lhote, Academie Julian, and the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere. We recently had a work of Sabavala’s at Bruneau & Co. in our 2021 May Estate Auction, and we are happy to have another one! Be sure to check these artists and their art in our upcoming auction!