Modern and Contemporary Art

Note

A career diplomat, Ambassador David Morgan Bane (1915-2004) first served the United States as an Army Lieutenant during World War II before joining the Foreign Service in 1947, where he represented his country during a long and decorated career. His assignments took him to posts all around the world, for extended periods in Africa and Southeast Asia. He first served as a political-economic officer in Tokyo and Seoul, as a consular officer in Bordeaux, and then a political officer in Paris. Returning to the U.S. to work at the United Nations, he later attended the National War College for post-graduate studies focused on Asian Affairs. His next assignment was Deputy Director of the Office of Northeast Asian Affairs in the State Department, where he later became Director in 1959. From 1961 to 1964, Ambassador Bane served as Consul General in Lahore, Pakistan, and then Ambassador to Gabon for four years starting in 1965. He was then named Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Central Command which was responsible for all U.S. forces in South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. His final posting before retiring in 1975 was to Bombay, India as Consul General.

Throughout his long and varied career, Ambassador Bane and his wife Patricia Bane delighted in learning about and experiencing the arts and cultures of the places they lived. Together they assembled an extensive collection of paintings, sculpture, and mixed media works, often acquired directly from the artists in each area. These personal relationships created a meaningful connection to the regions they served, as well as a beautifully curated collection that they displayed in their official diplomatic residences, and eventually their Florida home in retirement. Ambassador Bane passed away in 2004.

This remarkable painting by M.F. Husain, two works on paper by Abdur Rahman Chughtai (lots 30 and 31) and an abstract canvas by Laxman Shrestha (Indian, b. 1939) (lot 32) come to Freeman's from the Bane Collection. The artists were all prominent in the 1970s when the Banes were living in the area. One of the founding members of Bombay Progressive Artists' Group, Maqbool Fida Husain painted in an abstract, Modernist style while incorporating subject matter and religious figures from Indian culture. Greatly influenced by Cubism and Expressionism, Husain and his contemporaries integrated the aesthetic and content of traditional Indian sculptures and well-known miniature paintings. Husain was quite prolific in his long life and even created several films, including with his son Owais Husain.

The present painting exemplifies one of Husain’s important themes: the abstract female form. One figure stands tall with a blank face and shock of dark hair, while another crouches behind an adjacent palm tree. The bright colors draw the eye around the composition and split the two figures' bodies in varied ways. Unlike Husain’s more complex canvases, this bold abstraction concentrates light and shadow, areas of intense color and more subtle shades, into a study of contrast and balance.

The two works by Chughtai from the Bane Collection (lots 30 and 31), both studies of the female figure, reflect his influences from Mughal art, Indian miniature painting and Islamic art traditions. Named the National Artist of Pakistan, Chughtai was a prolific artist, writer and collector in his own right, and a great proponent of Pakistani culture. The pieces on offer here show the artist’s meticulous attention to detail - two beautiful examples of the artist’s best-known style.