JAMINI ROY (1887-1972)

Acquired directly from the artist, circa 1950s - early 1960s

Chandrakala Lal became a friend and patron of Jamini Roy during the 1950s when she lived in Calcutta with her husband Shiv Lal. Mr. Lal’s main company produced and exported iron ore to Europe and Asia. When his many trade partners and diplomats and dignitaries from all around the world visited the Lal family in Calcutta, Mrs. Lal would personally take them to Jamini Roy’s studio and buy them each a painting as a gift.

Mrs. Lal recalls bringing her teenage daughter, Pramila, along on her regular visits to Jamini Roy in his studio early on in his career. As well as purchasing paintings and supporting him fnancially, Mrs. Lal brought the artist food, art supplies and even medicine on their frequent visits to Roy’s small studio, a simple house with a modest courtyard in the back, where the artist would sit and paint on the ground.
This collection represents not only the sum of each carefully selected artwork, but the time-honoured friendship between patron and artist. The paintings, acquired directly from Jamini Roy in the 1950s and early 1960s, a seminal period for the artist, include representations of the key religious themes he focused on in his oeuvre, from Christ and the Madonna to Krishna. Lot 7 was painted by the artist as a gift of thanks to Mrs. Lal to comemorate their friendship.

The paintings travelled from India to Surrey in the United Kingdom in 1968 when the family moved. However, the family remained friends and patrons of the artist until his death in 1972.