PRESS RELEASE______________________________________________________________DECEMBER 2009

                                                 Lot 654

                                                 Vladimir Griegorovich Tretchikoff (South African 1913-2006)

                                                 THE HINDU DANCER

                                                 signed, dated 51 and inscribed 'SA'                   

                                                 oil on canvas

                                                 81 by 104cm

                                                 LITERATURE:

                                                 Howard Timmins, 'Tretchikoff' , Cape Town, 1969, illustrated in colour

                                                 R1 000 000 - R1 200 000

Tretchikoff’s Hindu Dancer

Tretchikoff’s ubiquitous oeuvre is composed primarily of memorable figurative subjects. Of these works, the ones which are best known and appreciated are those that depict the idealised exotic woman – The Chinese Girl, Miss Wong and The Fruits of Bali. Hindu Dancer is another one of his instantly recognisable and iconic works.

Unlike the previously mentioned works, Hindu Dancer is not typical of a portrait. The standing figure in this painting is more of an idealised anonymous ‘type’ as there is little about her that marks her individuality. Having her identity neutralised prevents the viewer from being distracted from the ‘language’ expressed by her hands or mudras – something perhaps the artist was exposed to during the late 1930s when he lived in Singapore.  The unusually unadorned body, the decontextualized background and the fact that there are eight hands presented on the canvas all ask the viewer to consider the figure’s gestures and their meanings.

The History of Visual Art is peppered with hand gestures as a mode of communication. From the very first forms of art in the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave through to Giotto’s Lamentation of Christ, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel and even US army’s Uncle Sam, hands have been used to communicate thoughts, emotions or concepts. Tretchikoff uses this device too; through the mode of mudras; a system of hand gestures originating from Hinduism and later absorbed by Buddhism, to express specific energies and ideas.

Classical Indian dance styles such as Baratanatyam are unique in that they combine dance elements with hand gestures known as mudras. They consist of single-handed gestures (Asamyukta hastas) and double-handed gestures (Samyukta Hastas). There are over 50 different gestures in the Hindu tradition and each denotes a specific meaning or concept. Thus a dancer can narrate a story using only the movements of her body and hands. In Hindu Dancer one can identify the Hamsasye, symbolic of a swan’s beak and representing an auspicious occasion, the Vitarka which is symbolic of the Wheel of Law and relates to teaching and the Tripataka which is representative of a crown. Combined together they suggest the divine wisdom of heaven and earth.

Tretchikoff goes beyond the iconic representation of an ideal exotic form by layering it with a language that is both mystical and beautiful.

Michael John Chandler BA Hons (Art History)