Sunil Madhav Sen - UNTITLED( Girl with Braids /Shiva and Annapurna)

Sunil Madhav Sen (1910 - 1979)

Wash on Paper/Line Drawing

13 x 10/12.5 x 8 Inches

Signed Lower Right/Lower Right

This work depicts a girl with pronounced spiral braids, drawn in bold ink lines with fluid washes of blue and red. The rhythmic curls recall folk scroll painting and kantha patterns from Bengal’s Rarh region, a key influence in Sunil Madhav Sen’s practice.

The girl's face here reflects his interest in ritual village imagery; transformed here through Cubist line and modernist abstraction. As a self-taught artist rooted in Bankura’s folk craft traditions, Sen combined local motifs with a free, European-influenced drawing style, seen in this ink composition.

The reverse shows a small sketch of Shiva and Annapurna, the god and goddess known in Hindu lore for symbolising the balance between asceticism and nourishment. Sen’s simple, folk-like lines bring this mythic pair into his playful modernist style.