Jamini Roy

(1887-1972)

Untitled (The Last Supper)

Footnotes

Provenance
Property from a private collection, UK.
Acquired in India by Frank Girling, the anthropologist;
Gifted to his friend, Naresh Sohal,
Thence by descent to his wife, Janet Swinney.

Roy's artistic journey was marked by a quest to distil the essence of Indian art while simultaneously embracing its folk traditions. Influenced by the simplicity and vibrancy of rural Bengal's artistic heritage, Roy developed a style characterized by bold lines, flat colours, and minimalistic compositions. Untitled (Last Supper) exemplifies his mastery of this style, as he reinterprets the iconic scene with a refreshing authenticity. Roy was an orthodox Hindu, and was one of the first artists to depict Christ in an Indian tradition. He was fascinated by Christianity and studied ancient Christian iconography and photo reproductions of renaissance masters. During his career he created several paintings on the these of the Last Supper, depicting 10 to 12 apostles.

In Untitled (Last Supper), all 12 apostles are illustrated in profile, six stand in the foreground and six in the background; Christ is the only figure depicted in full frontal view and appears larger than the others. The painting appears symmetrical with the repeated facial expressions and similar patterning of the robes. They have Roy's characteristic almond eyes and voluminous bodies. Painted in earthy and muted colours of Indian red, yellow ochre, vermilion, blue, grey and white, the composition exudes a soft yet powerful quality.

This work was owned by the eminent social anthropologist, Frank Girling (1917-2004). Girling, who was born in Northumberland, was a communist - later revolutionary socialist - who fought in the Spanish Civil War and served in the Indian Army, refusing promotion beyond the rank of corporal. His work as an anthropologist challenged colonial attitudes in the academic establishment and now appears in the classic volume, The Acholi of Uganda.

Although Girling's own academic life was pursued in Sheffield, he lived for much of his life in Edinburgh where he met the composer, Naresh Sohal (1939-2018 - www.nareshsohal.com). Sohal had established himself in the UK as the first composer from post-Partition India working successfully in the Western classical idiom. His work was performed by orchestras that included the BBC Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic and Berlin Staatskapelle orchestras, and was championed by conductors Zubin Mehta and Sir Andrew Davis. He had seven commissions from the BBC, two of which were for large-scale works for the BBC Proms. In 1987 he was awarded a Padma Shri (Order of the Lotus) for his services to Western classical music by the Government of India. Girling donated the picture to him in about 1985. It is currently the property of the composer's wife, Janet Swinney.