Gallery Silver Scpaes
Still Life With Fish
Still Life With Fish
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Artist: K. H. Ara
Medium: Watercolour on Paper
Size: 21 × 28.5 inches (53.34 × 72.39 cm)
Year: Circa 1950
An exquisite exploration of everyday objects, this still life painting embodies a raw and unembellished charm that elevates the ordinary to the extraordinary. Through a masterful command of realism, the artist captures the tactile richness of the fish with remarkable precision, emphasizing the nuanced textures that suggest both freshness and natural vitality. The composition invites viewers to reconsider the beauty inherent in simple, rustic elements.
Dominated by earthy tones, the palette harmonizes warm browns, muted ochres, and subtle greens, grounding the work in a naturalistic atmosphere. Bold, confident brushstrokes inject energy and immediacy into the scene, balancing meticulous detail with expressive painterly gestures. This interplay creates a vibrant tension that animates the inanimate subjects and evokes a sense of presence and life.
At the center of the arrangement, a vessel, possibly ceramic or earthenware, anchors the composition with its humble solidity. Alongside it, a selection of fruit adds both color and symbolic resonance, their organic forms complementing the textured surface of the fish. Together, these elements construct a tableau of rustic elegance, wherein quotidian objects are imbued with poetic sophistication. The artist’s attention to light and shadow further enhances the still life’s dimensionality. Subtle gradations of tone model the contours of the fish and the rounded forms of the fruit, while reflective highlights breathe luminosity into the surfaces. This careful modulation of light not only heightens realism but also imbues the work with a contemplative mood, inviting viewers to savor the quiet beauty of the composition.
The painting resonates with historical traditions of still life, recalling the genre’s longstanding engagement with themes of transience, sustenance, and the cycles of nature. The presence of the fish and fruit may subtly allude to notions of nourishment and abundance, while the rustic vessel speaks to everyday utility and craftsmanship. In synthesizing technical virtuosity with emotive depth, the artist transforms a simple assemblage of objects into a compelling visual meditation. This still life stands as a testament to the enduring power of the genre to find grace in the mundane, inviting viewers to appreciate the textures, colors, and forms that enrich our daily experience.
Why Choose Us
Art has always, naturally, reflected the development and exploration of different thoughts and perceptions, and our current postmodern era is no different. It is interesting to see how art has evolved visually, yet the traditional methods of composing art remain a valid means of expression.
All it takes for an artist to rise above normalcy, is inspiration, which fuels his passion to paint beautiful creations throughout his life.
The valuable expression of art is always there with us, but now this expression is yet to take an interesting diversion with our art gallery, Gallery Silver Scapes, located in Hauz Khas Enclave. Art is no longer considered just decorative but has evolved and come forth as a major form of investment yielding high rates of returns for its buyers, making it an expression commonly used.
Mrs Mayor was walked into the art world by the legendary modernist Bimal Das Gupta, one of whose biggest collections remains with Gallery Silver Scapes. In the 1980s, as head and first curator of the Habiart Gallery founded by Mrs Rekha Modi — a childhood friend — Mrs Mayor worked closely with and curated shows for renowned artists such as A Ramachandran, GR Santosh, Rameshwar Broota, Sakti Burman, MK Bardhan, Dhiraj Chaudhury, M Sivanesan, and Arup Das among others.
Besides modern masters, she also worked with young contemporaries such as Sudip Roy, Paresh Maity, Subroto Kundu, Vinod Sharma, and many more. Artworks commissioned by her are now part of prestigious collections, such as those of the India Habitat Centre, Ranbaxy, Pepsi, Hotel Lalit, Bank of America, and many more private and public collections.