Devi Prasad Roy Chowdhury (India, 1899-1975)
An Inmate of the Harem

Pencil, pen and ink and watercolour with heightening in gold and white on paper laid down on board, signed centre right in Bengali.

'He [Chowdhury] did not attempt the emotional approach and peter out into sickly sentimentality. If his women were decorative they were meant to be so [...] They were not intended to be manifestations of a spiritual ideal, but to frankly convey their human charm...' (Karl Khandalavala, 'Decorative Artist', in P. R. Ramachandra Rao (ed.), Chowdhury and his Art, Bombay 1943, p. 73, quoted in N. Tuli, The Flamed Mosaic: Indian Contemporary Painting, Ahmedabad 1997, p. 195, n. 48).

Source: Bonhams