SOMNATH HORE (1921-2006)

WOUNDS
INTAGLIO ON HANDMADE PAPER AND PULP

A DELICATELY INCISED AND EMBOSSED COMPOSITION ON WARM, TEXTURED HANDMADE PAPER, WHERE FRAGILE LINEAR FIGURES EMERGE FROM THE SURFACE ONLY THROUGH RAISED AND RECESSED RELIEF. A STARK, RIB-EXPOSED SKELETAL FIGURE STANDS AT THE UPPER CENTRE, ITS GAUNT FRAME AND HOLLOWED FACE EVOKING HUNGER AND MORTALITY. BELOW, A SCRATCHED, WIRE-LIKE PORTRAIT OF A BESPECTACLED HEAD ANCHORS THE LOWER HALF, SURROUNDED BY ROUNDED FORMS, FRAGMENTARY GLYPHS AND SCRIPT-LIKE MARKS THAT SEEM TO DISSOLVE INTO THE PAPER ITSELF.

THE WORK EXEMPLIFIES HORE'S CELEBRATED PRINTMAKING LANGUAGE, IN WHICH PAPER PULP AND PRESSED RELIEF REPLACE CONVENTIONAL INK AND LINE, GIVING FORM TO THEMES OF SUFFERING, FAMINE AND HUMAN VULNERABILITY. THE MONOCHROMATIC, EARTHY TONALITY AND THE SCARRED, SCULPTURAL SURFACE RECALL THE ARTIST'S POWERFUL RESPONSE TO THE TEBHAGA PEASANT MOVEMENT AND THE BENGAL FAMINE, MAKING THE IMAGE A QUIET BUT UNFLINCHING WITNESS TO HUMAN ENDURANCE.

THESE WORKS ARE HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER, MUCH LIKE THOSE BY RENOWNED ARTISTS SUCH AS M.F. HUSAIN, S.H. RAZA, F.N. SOUZA, AKBAR PADAMSEE, HEMENDRANATH MAZUMDAR, RAM KUMAR, JAMINI ROY, B. PRABHA, TYEB MEHTA, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY ARE OFTEN SOLD BY AUCTIONEERS TO COLLECTORS AROUND THE GLOBE