Mansoor Rahi (B.1939) Untitled (Face)

Mansoor Rahi (B.1939) Untitled (Face) signed 'Rahi '08' lower right oil on board, framed 36.8 x 24.7cm (14 1/2 x 9 3/4in). Footnotes: Provenance Property from a private collection, Pakistan. 'Rahi is imaginatively innovative in creating his peculiar creatures and forms. Sometimes, torn and sheared limbs and parts may evoke, what a writer calls, a 'feeling arising from ancient myths and primordial fears of man.' This effect is greatly accentuated by his use of colour which lends a mysterious glow to the painting, creating an impression as though it was emanating from the images and objects themselves.' (Ijaz Ul Hassan, Painting in Pakistan, Karachi, 1996, p. 100.) Rahi was born in Maldah, West Bengal, India but his family migrated to East Pakistan and settled in Rajshahi. He attended the Dhaka Government College of Arts and Crafts, and was taught by Zainul Abedin, Kibria and Aminul Islam. He moved to Karachi permanently in 1963, when he exhibited his works at the Karachi Arts Council and was subsequently offered the position of an art teacher with the Central Institute of Arts & Crafts. In 1965, he became the Principal of the Karachi School of Art and in 1982 he was appointed the Associate Professor of Art at the University of Peshawar. Rahi's works can best be described as the amalgamation of the mannerisms propounded by cubism, the social commitment of the works espoused by his teacher Zainul Abedin as seen in Rahi's 1973 tortured drawings on the World Food Crisis of 1973, and the idyllic notions of Bengals rural life, which romanticised peasant life and rural culture. Untitled (Face) is a brilliant example of the techniques he mastered. The composition is dominated by the geometric face or faces and the colours employed are shades of reds, browns, honey and sienna, all of which add volume to the painting. Light appears to bounce off the canvas, and the woman appears almost futuristic, an influence perhaps from the 1990s, when he painted popular children's science fiction toys. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * * VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing