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Body & soul

Nudes reveal more about the artist than their naked subjects—at least, it’s fun to pretend this. Consider FN Souza’s  The Traders. Four figures stand in a line, touching each other intimately. The sexual organs are well-defined, the faces are mangled beyond recognition. Was Souza feeling cynical when he painted this? Did he see sex as just another transaction? Comparatively, the sex lives of his contemporaries like KH Ara and Badri Narayan were either  idyllic (Ara) or spiritual (Narayan). Contemporary artists too bare current preoccupations plainly with nudes. The naked women from Shakuntala Kulkarni’s 2007 series of paintings have an air of cosiness to them; they look less like they’re trying to turn you on, and more like they wandered out of the shower to look for a towel, caught sight of themselves in the mirror and burst out into full-bellied laughter. As a feminist, Kulkarni has no interest in using skin-show to titillate her viewers. But not all nudity is political. In Dibin Thilakan’s case, it feels merely like the untamed lushness of Kerala travelled into the veins of his carefree lovers. His nudes are beautifully realistic but placed in impossible, Kama Sutra-like positions or in Edenic settings. Look through our gallery of modern and contemporary art and tell us in the comments if these bodies reveal something of the minds from which they have sprung.

curated by Deepa Menon

The Traders, FN Souza, 1967
Collage and water colour on tinted paper

In this painting FN Souza does what he did best: reveal the grotesquerie and unintentional comedy of sex. The faces of each of the four nude figures in this frame have been disfigured, what features remain are exaggerated and made absurd. There is a focus on separating the two genders and observing their interaction in a sexual context; the man on the left holds the breast of the woman next to him while the other woman is touching the genitals of the man next to her. Ironically, the pairs seem quite comfortable in their positions even while the artist seeks to discomfit the viewer. The warm colour palette and the dark outline around the figures are trademark Souza. FN Souza was born in Goa. He pursued his art education from the Sir JJ School of Arts in Mumbai, but was expelled for participating in the Quit India Movement. In 1947, he founded the Progressive Artists’ Group along with his other contemporaries like SH Raza, MF Husain and KH Ara, among others. Souza’s art very profoundly expresses emotions and creative depth through his abstracted human forms. His spontaneous style of painting creates thought-provoking and powerful images. He covered a vast number of subject areas, including still-lifes, landscapes, nudes and even religious icons of Christianity. Souza’s art is a representation of how the banal is important, and how it can be glorified through art. He drew technical inspiration from sources like the folk art of his native town in Goa, to the detailed Catholic paintings from the Renaissance era. Souza tried to capture themes like conflict and sexual tension in relationships between men and women. In 1949, Souza moved to London and started to become a part of the art-scene over there. In 1967, he moved to New York City after receiving the Guggenheim International Award. Souza’s works have been a part of several collections and exhibitions all throughout India and abroad. He passed away in March 2002.

Nude with Still Life, Badri Narayan
1970
Oil on canvas

In this painting, Badri Narayan has juxtaposed the figure of a seated female nude with a still-life composition. So much so that the woman itself appears to be another fixture in the still-life composition. There is a certain mystic dream-like quality to the painting that is a feature common to a lot of Badri Narayan’s painting compositions. Here the seated female nude has a prominent necklace, and a lot of still-life elements surround her. In front of her there is a basket of pink fruits, along with a few stray fruits beside her. Another major point of focus, other than the figure of the woman, is the large flowerpot on her left side. This flowerpot is proportionally as large as the seated woman, thus drawing the attention of the viewer. The flowers are painted in muted shades of pink, red and orange, which mimics the shades used in the fruits and the body of the female nude.
Narayan’s artworks are very symbolic, and are deeply rooted in conveying a hidden message via certain symbolic elements. He usually draws these symbolic elements and references from the world around him, and his real life experiences. Narayan is greatly influenced by Indian mythology and its related metaphors. Additionally; traditional Indian miniatures heavily inspire his painting technique.

Untitled, KH Ara
Watercolor and soft-pastel on paper

As one of the founders of the Progressive Artists' Group and an idealist who was once imprisoned for participating in MK Gandhi’s salt satyagraha, KH Ara seemed to have acquired a somewhat avuncular air in the art scene of ’40s and’50s Bombay. That was rudely challenged when he got into nudes. And he got into nudes in a big way—the word ‘obsessive’ has been used to describe this sudden fascination. But Ara’s nudes came in for a lot of criticism. Compared to those of contemporaries like Souza, these paintings were not sexual, shocking or even very explicit. But there’s a sensuousness to Ara’s work even if the subjects seem guarded in certain places, throwing sidelong looks over a shoulder or hurrying to cover up. Shy and respectful as the artist’s gaze seems, it also captures the spread of the hips, the arch of the back and the gentle swell of the breasts in an intimate, utterly infatuated way that has its own appeal.

Untitled, Laxma Goud, 1974-1977

In this etching of watercolor and ink on paper, Laxma Goud sketches erotic studies of the human female form. They appear to be quick contour drawings that were then worked on more to add details and colours. These sketches surround the main black and white etching, which comprises of a man and a woman lying together, head to toe. It is indicated that they are in a room of some sort, as the viewer can observe a pillow and curtains in the background. Both the figures represented are nude, which could suggest that they are lovers. The trees and plants against a black background suggest it could be nighttime. There is a very rustic, raw and intimate quality to both the main etching and the surrounding drawings. Laxma Goud was born in Andhra Pradesh and completed his art education from the Government School of Art and Architecture in Hyderabad. He then went on to study Mural Painting and Printmaking at the MS University in Baroda. Goud is not attached to one specific medium, and shows his versatility across a range of mediums like printmaking, drawing, watercolor, gouache, pastels, sculpture and glass painting. (Read about some popular mediums artists work in here.) His work can be described as raw and poignant in nature, as his portraits of men and women portray a very strong emotive quality. A consistent theme in Goud’s work is the exploration of the erotic . Most of his paintings are set in rural landscapes that he recreates from memories of his childhood. In his later artworks, these same figures are delineated with a much softer and introspective outlook. Goud has exhibited his works in several group and solo shows throughout India and abroad. The artist currently lives and works in Hyderabad.

Love letter, Jogen Chowdhury, 2008
Dry Pastel on Paper

The subject of this painting is a semi-nude female figure lying on her bed with a love letter. But for the breasts, there would be no way to identify the gender of the subject. The artist has whittled away all extraneous details, not to mention colours, to present a languid, wistful mood. Jogen Chowdhury's nudes are neither perfect nor posing. He clearly seems to want to go beyond the merely physical and layer moods and emotions onto his subjects. His figures are interesting for being more emotional and atmospheric than they are physical or sexual. A leading figurative expressionist in India, Jogen Chowdhury was born in 1939 in Dahapara Bengal, now Bangladesh. He graduated from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Kolkata after which he went to study in Paris at the L’Ecole Nationale Superior des Beax-Arts. Much of his early work was influenced by the social climate of his home, like the Bengal Famine of 1943 and the communist movement that followed. In his works, distorted and caricatured figures reference the human plight in situations of social distress; this would eventually become his signature. In 1972, he was appointed the curator of the Art Gallery of Rashtrapati Bhavan. In 1987, he joined Kala Bhavan in Santiniketan as a professor of painting and he’s also been a member of the Rajya Sabha since 2014. To read more about the Bengal School of Art, click here.

And when she roared, the universe quaked, Shakuntala Kulkarni, 2007
Acrylic paint on glass and fabric

Shakuntala Kulkarni addresses certain pressing feminist issues through her 2007 series of women-centric paintings. The artist is alluding to the ability of women to free themselves from the shackles of society and its expectations. In Kulkarni’s world as depicted in this series, woman are powerful warriors in charge of their own destiny. Shakuntala Kulkarni started off as an abstract expressionist artist before moving towards the figurative. (Learn to decode common art terms here.) Today, she has moved beyond canvases and into real-time/space with installation art; her work was part of the India Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2019. Kulkarni’s colour palette comprises mostly of tones of greys and browns, as she believes they perfectly represent her somber themes and figurative forms. Apart from painting, the artist is also interested in theater and has worked closely with filmmaker and actor Amol Palekar and dramatist Satyadev Dubey. Kulkarni has extensively exhibited her works in renowned institutions all across India, and she currently lives and works in Mumbai.

That Day in The Forest, Dibin K Thilakan, 2016

In this painting, Dibin Thilakan is tapping into the realm between the conscious and subconscious. This painting has seven different figures, all in neatly sectioned parts of the artwork, engaging in completely different activities. This painting is almost like an aerial-view of the forest, offering a voyeuristic perspective on couples having sex, a Narcissus-like man exulting in his nudity and two couples taking aim with their bows at something outside the frame.  There is also a play on perspective with nature in this composition as the humans appear to be larger than a lot of the trees—this could be a subtle satirical nod at the human tendency to see nature as subservient to our desires and conveniences. Dibin Thilakan was born in Thrissur, Kerala. After graduating from the town’s College of Fine Arts in 2010, he collaborated with a Latin American theatre group, experimenting with various aspects of the performing arts. He then went on to acquire his masters in painting from the SN School of Art and Communication, Hyderabad University, and returned to Thrissur to establish his studio. “Most of my batch-mates migrated to art hubs like Mumbai but I decided to come back and settle down in Kerala. It’s so beautiful here,” he said in an interview with Sarmaya—read and see other works by the artist in our collection here.

Untitled, Arpita Singh
1996
Watercolor and ink on paper

Arpita Singh’s works comprise of provocative subject matters and narratives. Each of her works is like a story. In this painting in particular, Singh has represented a middle-aged woman who appears to have a very subdued facial expression as she stands on top of a poppy seed flower. Singh often uses various elements such as flowers as motifs for symbolism, to express her concerns regarding the role of women and feminism in today's society. A poppy seed flower is often used as a symbol of sleep and peace, which could be a reference to the woman’s facial expression. Additionally, the coat and trousers floating on the hanger beside the woman's figure could be interpreted as a representation of a male figure. Here, the figure of the man is depicted beneath the woman, both physically and literally. Singh, through her minimalist representation of figures and motifs is able to stir a lot of emotion in the viewer, and give the viewer a glimpse into the narrative of suffering that is common to both her and the intangible life forms in the painting.

From the Purushartha series, Dilesh Hazare
2011
Charcoal on paper

The title of this series of charcoal drawings by the young painter and sculptor Dilesh Hazare is Purushartha, the Sanskrit word for ‘the goal of human endeavour’. The four purusharthas are dharma, artha, kama and moksha or righteousness, prosperity, pleasure and liberation. It’s clear which goal the subjects here are engaged in pursuing. Hazare’s nudes are classically beautiful with sculpted, taut muscles and full, rounded breasts, but what makes them interesting are the fluid shapes they seem to take when fused together. The artist uses only gradations of colour to demarcate one body from another—the male is powerful and black, the female is supple and white—and then merges the two forms to create a unit that’s completely immersed in itself and oblivious to the world around.

Creation of Other I, Pradeepkumar KP
Watercolor, soft-pastel and charcoal on handmade paper

A lot of Pradeepkumar’s work deals with the subject matter of figures and their role in a world that was created for them. His art invites the viewer to lurk into this world of shrubbery and nature to try to understand its significance. His focus on native and rural aspects directly alludes to his identity as an Indian, as well as to his home in the village on the Malabar coast of Kerala. His work revolves around human-figures and their interaction with certain native landscapes in a contemporary context.