Untitled (The Sorrowful Woman)

In this early canvas, S. K. Bakre presents a figure within an abstract landscape. Bearing a visibly melancholic expression, the woman looks off to the left with eyes that appear forlorn. Her face appears chiselled—Bakre was first a sculptor— while the unblended brushwork gives the canvas a tactile feel. In the decades Bakre spent away from India, he assimilated an unparalleled understanding of line, colour, form, and texture.