Untitled

A founder member of the Progressive Artist’s Group, K. H. Ara’s felicity with creating nudes in still-life setting is unparalleled; an overwhelming majority of his work dealt with these two themes either individually or jointly as is the case with this work. A self-trained artist but with an open mind to imbibe all the currents of modernism cruising through Mumbai in mid-twentieth century, Ara’s nudes were not meant to titillate or provoke. As is evident in this work, the female figure is an integral part of the room on which the still-life elements are situated.