Study of an Old Man

L. Munuswamy, with his colourful compositions, developed a style that abstained from the use of angles or straight lines. This Untitled work features an old man—his eyes are hollow; with one hand he clutches his walking stick while the other hangs listlessly down his side. He appears to be sitting, stooped over, waiting and contemplating. Having gone through the rigours of academic realism, Munuswamy’s portraits are testimony to his experiments on abstracting the face to its basic structure, doing away with tones and descriptive details.