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
J. Sultan Ali
Neela Nagini
1988
Oil on canvas
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J. Sultan Ali
Neela Nagini
1988
Oil on canvas
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