Lot 84
TWO JAGANNATH TEMPLE PAINTINGS
INDIA, ORISSA, PURI, CIRCA 1900-20
£2,016
Auction: Indian Paintings from the Collection of William & Mildred Archer | Lots 84 to 152 | 12 June at 10am
Description
each varnished gouache on cloth, mounted, one inscribed on verso:
Cat. No. 306; the lot includes two circular varnished cards
Dimensions
37cm x 29cm (14 ½in x 11 3/8in)
Footnote
Exhibited and Literature:
Mildred Archer, Indian paintings from court, town and village, Arts Council of Great Britain Touring Exhibition Catalogue, 1970, no. 50.
Note:
Lots 84 - 89 depicting the Jagannath trio were the first paintings William Archer collected in the early 1930s. He happily stumbled across them outside the Jagannath Temple when he was attending a Conference at Puri in 1933. Puri is a pilgrimage centre and local shops, to this day, sell paintings in large quantities of the ‘Jagannath trio’ to pilgrims and visitors as souvenirs. These works are often characterised by three figures: Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra [Balarama] and little sister, Subhadra. Mildred notes, ‘The three gods, painted black, white and yellow, are like carved wooden posts’. They are either presented within a shrine and temple setting or alone in a rather bold and minimalist fashion. Mildred describes these paintings as having ‘qualities of masterly simplification as well as another quality – a strong bias towards vital geometry. Geometric distortions had formed an essential part of Cubism and in these strange figures with globe-like heads, he [Bill] felt a weird kinship with modern painting.’
