Nude

The decade of the 1950s was important in the career of Laxman Pai, since it was during this time that he started to evolve and formalise his unique visual art vocabulary. This painting, Nude, depicting a standing female figure against a semi-abstract background, displays several distinctive stylistic elements that he came to be known for. The flattened, two-dimensional space in this work is animated by the fluid interaction of line and colour. The nude figure, whose face is shown in profile, is created in daubs and smears of paint; the body’s orientation evokes both Egyptian art and Jain miniatures. Her arms are flung up in the air, as if to draw attention to the adornments on her neck, wrists and ankles. The painting was created in London in 1959, while Pai was on his way back to Paris from a trip to Bombay.