Untitled (still life)

Krishnaji Howalji Ara was a founding member of the Bombay Progressives Group and is regarded as one of the most intuitive of the modernists. His interest in still life began around the 1940s and continued through the 1950s. Yashodhara Dalmia says of Ara's still life paintings: "Ara's achievement lay in fusing a raw sensuality with a calculated structuring, thereby revitalizing the entire still life genre. He constantly experimented with paint to acquire what he describes as the 'honest expression of form'. There is a rough, uneven, jagged look to all his still life paintings, with minimal attention to details, which distinguishes his works from others."
Asian Art Department, AGNSW, June 2008.