Dharmanarayan Dasgupta
New Goddess
May one see it?
Not receiving at present
Victoria and Albert Museum
London, United Kingdom
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
Dharmanarayan Dasgupta was born in Calcutta in Tripura (Agartala) in 1939. Studied at Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan where he obtained a Diploma in Fine Arts in 1960. The artist died in Kolkata in 1997.
Bizarre images crowd his canvases and are reminiscent of the ironic work of Surrealist artist Rene' Magritte and the naive realism of Henri Rousseau: subjects float in the air surveying the world with their legs pointing skyward and distorted beyond recognition.
He explains, "If some of the figures in my paintings are seen suspended in the air and others, upside down, it is so because I am trying to present the predicament of a middle-class man, who does not have a secure foot-hold in our society, who has to make compromises, face disappointments and whose dreams and aspirations are invariably turned down."
Read on
In this painting, executed in oil, a one-dimensional goddess with green hair and a bright pink face rides standing on a multi-headed horse raising both hands. The goddess' palms are open towards the sky - implying offering - and display henna tattoos. Her feet rest on a colourful pois saddle and face the viewer. The head of the horse is in profile and is painted several times in order to suggest movement. The entire scene is depicted without the aid of perspective. Moreover the overall flatness of the painting is enhanced by the matt background, which gives the goddess a peculiar - almost playful- iconic status.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- IS.111-1985
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
