Friday, August 19, 2022

Amitabh Bachchan’s Diwali picture features ‘Bull’ painting by this artist; know more here

Can you guess the artist and cost of this unique painting at Amitabh Bachchan's house?

Manjit Bawa's painting displayed at Amitabh Bachchan's home. (Source: Shweta Nanda/Instagram)

Many celebrities took to social media to wish their fans, and also give a glimpse of their celebrations. Among the many B-Town stars to do so was Amitabh Bachchan who shared a lovely picture with his family — wife Jaya, son Abhishek, daughter-in-law Aishwarya, daughter Shweta Nanda and with his grand children.

Much like most of his posts, the picture also went viral, and while many wished the superstar and his family on the auspicious occasion many others noticed the artwork in the background which featured a bull.

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Take a look!

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According to reports, the painting by late artist Manjit Bawa (1941-2008), titled ‘Bull’, is estimated to be around Rs 4 crore. However, there is no official confirmation on any of the art sites at present.

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The artwork is believed to represent strength, speed, dominance, hope, and prosperity. The oil on canvas measuring 137 x 172 cm. (53.9 x 67.7 inches) is considered to be one of Bawa’s most iconic works.

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Born in Punjab’s Dhuri, Bawa often drew inspiration from Indian mythology and Sufi philosophy.

As per Sothebys.com, Bawa’s distinctive use of colour was grounded in his training as a serigrapher and printer. The website mentions that he studied serigraphy at the London School of Printing, Essex and worked in London as a printmaker from 1967 to 1971. Back in India, fellow artist Jagdish Swaminathan invited him to start a print-making department in Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal.

“Bawa enjoyed making serigraphs not only of his own works but also for his artist friends. For his own prints he experimented with shapes and stark backgrounds that later became a part of his iconography as a painter. The artist reinvented the free floating form, which later became figures, by incorporating his early study of the forms and colours of Rajput and Pahari miniature paintings. His subjects were often inspired by icons and myths which represent the dual polarities of the human and animal world; although they share the same environment they ‘occupy separate mental universes’,” Sotheby’s added.

In Midnight to the Boom, curator Susan Bean wrote that Bawa’s transformative moment happened “in the early 1980s”. “Bawa fulfilled an ambition he set for himself in reaction to art-school masters: he created his own figural form, distinct from the work of other artists. Drawing and plein-air sketching were central to this project”.