Neela Nagini

Neela Nagini

Neela Nagini

J. Sultan Ali

Neela Nagini

year

1988

size

42.0 x 48.0 in. / 106.7 x 121.9 cm.

medium

Oil on canvas

During the latter part of his career, J. Sultan Ali painted in monochromatic tones, and experimented with abstract imagery. However, his exploration of a primitivist vocabulary continued, as is evident in this oil on canvas. In a tropical country endowed with rich fauna, reptiles have been worshipped as part of animist beliefs in India since ancient times and the title refers to one such snake-deity. Though the idiom is the same as his early works, the single tone treatment allows the subject in the foreground to merge seamlessly with the abstracted background.

published references

Singh, Kishore, ed., Manifestations IX | 75 Artists, 20th Century Indian Art (New Delhi: DAG, 2012), p. 84
Singh, Kishore, ed., A Visual History of Indian Modern Art, Volume VIII: Region and Identity (New Delhi: DAG, 2015), p. 1474
Bhagat, Ashrafi, Madras Modern: Regionalism and Identity (New Delhi: DAG, 2019), p. 201

Neela Nagini
Neela Nagini
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Art Artist Names Single J. Sultan Ali

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