Among the works Dahanukar created while at Atelier 17 in Paris is a series of experimental intaglio prints that explore geometric, linear and organic forms. These works reflect a range of possible tonalities made from one plate. This print was created in 1961.
.
An untitled portrait from 1971 shows how Dahanukar’s early figural works reflect the concerns of her few female contemporaries, including B Prabha. They represent diverse women in various roles, challenging the predominance of a male gaze across the history of art, in India and far beyond. This work presents a frontal portrait of a village woman, nude from the waist up, facing us with a reserved expression. While the figure is rendered finely, Dahanukar uses a thicker impasto on her nauvari (nine-yard sari) and in the haze of the background.
.
This work, painted in 1989, is emblematic of the resolved compositions of the artists mid-to-late career. She achieved calm in her compositions through a range of approaches, using brushes and rollers.
.
In the mid to late 1970s, Dahanukar continued to wrestle with the dialogue between abstraction and landscape in her paintings. While her work often resists linear progression, this phase of her practice culminates with the monumental canvas of 1981 seen here, with a tumultuous river of movement and striking contrast between light and dark forms across the horizontal work.
E-Paper
