| Medium | : | Watercolour |
|---|---|---|
| Height | : | 18 inch / 45.7 cm |
| Width | : | 24 inch / 61 cm |
| Surface | : | Paper |
| Style | : | Abstract paintings, Figurative Paintings |
| Dimension | : | W: 61 cm × H: 45.7 cm |
A charming and dreamlike work by Sakti Burman, featuring four whimsical elephant-headed figures rendered in delicate shades of grey, white, black, and touches of earthy colour. With its soft textures, open space, and myth-inspired imagination, the artwork feels like a beautiful fragment from a forgotten fairytale.
Sakti Burman | Untitled | Watercolour on Paper | 18 x 24 inches
Untitled by Sakti Burman is a gentle and dreamlike composition that brings together four whimsical, elephant-headed figures, each carrying its own quiet personality. Painted in delicate washes of white, grey, black, and muted touches of ochre and blue, the work has an almost faded, memory-like quality. The figures appear to float against the open paper, giving the composition a light and poetic sense of space.
Burman’s characteristic blend of mythology, imagination, and childlike wonder can be felt in the softly drawn faces and unusual forms. The worn, textured surface and fragmented patches of colour add warmth and depth, making the figures feel as though they have emerged from an old story or a half-remembered dream. There is something both playful and contemplative about the work—the figures seem to quietly observe the viewer while existing in their own magical world.
The restrained palette and generous white space allow the delicate details to breathe, while the touches of earthy colour bring subtle energy to the otherwise serene composition. It is an artwork that feels intimate, imaginative, and timeless, inviting the viewer to pause and discover its quiet charm.
Like most other Indian artists who studied or lived in the French capital, Paris-based Burman’s works blend European and Indian imagery.
Born in Calcutta, Sakti Burman studied at the city’s Government College of Arts and Crafts, and later at École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris.
Pointillism and a marbling effect are unique characteristics of Burman’s art. He discovered marbling accidentally when water spilled on an oil canvas caused a filigreed dispersal of oil, an effect he has been painstakingly recreating ever since. Incredibly, he brought the same effect to his prints, made in his initial years, achieving the marbling on the surface of the medium — stone or wood or metal — through a labourious technical process in close collaboration with his printmakers, incidentally, also employed by Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall. In 1958, exposure to Italian Renaissance frescos by Giotto, Piero della Francesca and Simone Martini inspired Burman to incorporate the monumentality and texture of their works in his oeuvre.
India continues to inhabit his work in the form of characters and episodes from mythology or popular culture, often alluding to Ajanta cave paintings. Birds and animals, dream imagery and mythological figures such as Shiva’s son Kartikeya, referenced as the peacock-riding man, are frequent occurrences, making his work appear surrealist. For a long time now, he has foregrounded the figurative, which had receded from the art scenario in recent decades.
Burman is married to French artist Maite Deiteil and spends his time between his homes and studios in Paris and New Delhi.
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