The Last Saffron (2) (Primary Title)
Nilima Sheikh, Indian, born 1945 (Artist)
“[At first] I found it conceptually liberating and emotionally rewarding to paint my immediate surroundings on a small scale. Then I got involved in it formally and conceptually, and I found in it the way to express my voice and vision.” —Nilima Sheikh
Nilima Sheikh studied both history and art. Trained in Western-style oil painting, she eventually expanded the progressive modernist style of her early career when she turned her attention to traditional Indian miniature painting. The resulting works, featuring saturated washes of earth-tone pigments and delicate drawing, often combine observations of contemporary social and political realities with poetic, even mystical imagery. The Last Saffron series, inspired by the work of Kashmiri poet Agha Shahid Ali, contemplates the modern plight of his contested, Muslim-majority homeland. Rich reds and oranges float in Rothko-like clouds of color; indistinct shapes hint at Kashmir’s craggy mountains and fertile valleys. Amid this vastness appears a single tiny figure: an old bearded man who, crouching at the edge of a pool or river, leans on a stick.
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