Footnotes

Provenance
Property from a private collection, UK;
Acquired from Nicholas Treadwell Gallery, London, 1968.

This striking abstract composition, Untitled (Urban Landscape Scene), exemplifies the sophistication of Bakre's singular modernist language. Employing a richly textured surface and a vivid, saturated palette, the painting evokes a fragmented architectural urban landscape. At its centre lies a dense field of layered colour blocks, primarily reds, blues, greens, and ochres, recalling the rhythm and density of a cityscape. This central mass is framed by a cool-toned border composed of softer, tonal hues, which contrast with the interior's intensity and allude toward more ethereal references to nature; land, water and open spaces. One observes a deliberate shift toward sharp geometries and rhythmic fragmentation in the central field filling the work with both a structural clarity and an expressive narrative. Through the soft interplay of texture, colour, and form, the present lot showcases not only Bakre's command of abstraction but also his refined mastery of lyrical abstraction.

The formal sophistication of this painting reflects the realisation of Bakre's artistic evolution. Rooted in the discipline of academic realism, he, like many of his peers in post-Independence India, gradually turned toward abstraction as a means of expanding his visual language. This transition reflected the broader shift within Indian modernism during the 1950s and 1960s, a period defined by bold departures from tradition and a growing engagement with international avant-garde movements. By the late 1940s, Bakre had begun to cultivate a visual language distinguished by fluid forms and experimental structures, a development noted by Yashodhara Dalmia as embodying "free-flowing forms and unconventional shapes" (The Making of Modern Indian Art, p. 190).

Bakre's relocation to London in 1950 proved pivotal to this transformation. Immersed in the dynamic art circles of post-war Britain, he encountered a spectrum of modernist practices, among them a particular affinity with Vorticism. This early 20th-century British movement, inspired in part by Futurism, was characterised by fractured perspectives, mechanical energy, and angular, architectural forms. Its visual vocabulary, meant to mirror the chaos and velocity of industrial life, resonated with Bakre's own evolving style.

The present painting stands as a testament to Bakre's ability to synthesise compositional precision with vibrant, colourful, and expressive freedom, seamlessly bridging references to Indian artistic traditions with the broader idioms of international modernism.

For another painting from the collection sold in these rooms see Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art, 10th December 2024, lot 41.