Text Decoded

Object Details

• Artist

  Jagdish Swaminathan (India, 1928-1994)

• Label

  Jagdish Swaminathan painted with the goal of incorporating tribal and folk elements into a modernist idiom. While this painting's abstract forms, large size, and oil medium place it within an international context, its geometric images and earth tones evoke the designs that often decorate the walls and floors of South Asian village homes. Swaminathan mixed wax into pigment and scored it deeply with a sharp tool to create the work's richly textured central section. Inscriptions of the Devanagari alphabet's first letter, ka, in the upper color field mirror the suns drawn at bottom. The pairing invites us to reflect upon the relationship between culture and nature.

• Provenance

  1993-?

  Jagdish Swaminathan (1928-1994) [1]

  ?-1998

  Mahinder and Sharad Tak, method of acquisition unknown [2]

  From 1998

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Mahinder and Sharad Tak [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See the artist’s signature inscribed on the verso of the object.

  [2] See “Incoming Receipt,” dated June 19, 1998, copy in object file. The object was transferred from Mahinder Tak to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery for acquisition consideration on June 19, 1998.

  Mahinder and Sharad Tak are patrons, philanthropists, and notable collectors of modern and contemporary Indian art. Mahinder Tak is a radiation oncologist and retired US Army colonel and her husband, Sharad Tak, is a technologist and entrepreneur in areas ranging from infrastructure development to commercial real estate. Mahinder began visiting galleries during annual trips to India, occasionally purchasing works. However, after meeting the painter Maqbool Fida Husain (1915-2011) in the early 1980s in the US, she became a serious collector of art. Since then, the couple has created one of the largest collections of Indian art in the United States. Works from the Tak collection have been exhibited at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA; the Queens Museum, New York, NY; and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) in Delhi, India.

  [3] See Arthur M. Sackler, “Acquisition Consideration Form,” approved on July 10, 1998, copy in object file.

  See also “Deed of Gift to the Arthur M. Sacker Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution,” dated September 1, 1998, copy in object file.

  Research updated July 11, 2023

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  The Art of Knowing in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas (March 25, 2023 - ongoing)

  Changing Tastes: Indian Paintings of the 18th and 19th Century (December 17, 2000 to July 15, 2001)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Jagdish Swaminathan (India, 1928-1994)

  Sharad and Mahinder Tak

• Origin

  India

• Credit Line

  Gift of Mahinder and Sharad Tak

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1990s

• Name

  Tak, Sharad and Mahinder, Swaminathan, Jagdish

• Place

  India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Contemporary Art, Art

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Paintings