GAGANENDRANATH TAGORE (1867-1938)
Lot 49 PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF DHIRENDRA KRISHNA DEB BARMAN

GAGANENDRANATH TAGORE (1867-1938)

Untitled (Sunrise from Tiger Hill)

Closed15 December 2015

Price Realised

INR 4,375,000

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GAGANENDRANATH TAGORE (1867-1938)
Untitled (Sunrise from Tiger Hill)
initialed 'G.T.' and stamped (lower right)
watercolour on paper
9 5/8 x 12 in. (24.4 x 30.5 cm.)
Executed circa 1920s

Gifted of the artist
Thence by descent

Specialist note

Tiger Hill, situated a few kilometres away from Darjeeling, offers one of the best and most well-known panoramas of the Himalayas, particularly during the hours of sunrise. Gaganendranath Tagore, who began to summer in the area in 1915, is likely to have visited this outlook as well as the rivers and lakes that surround it.

This dawn landscape seems to overlook Senchal Lake, located within the wildlife sanctuary at Tiger Hill, just before the sun appears over the Himalayan peaks that surround it. Illustrating Gaganendranath Tagore's unique use of a distanced perspective and his masterful brushwork, this refined painting combines imagination and reality in equal measure to create a personal, magical scene.

Speaking about the artist's work, his uncle Rabindranath Tagore noted, "What profoundly attracted me was the uniqueness of his creation, a lively curiosity in his constant experiments, and some mysterious depth in their imaginative value. Closely surrounded by the atmosphere of a new art movement he sought out his own untrodden path of adventure, attempted marvellous experiments in colouring and made fantastic trials in the magic of light and shade." (R. Tagore, Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, Vol. 6, Calcutta, 1938)