Untitled abstraction, version 1

Panchal Mansaram

Indo-Canadian artist Panchal Mansaram was granted a Dutch Goverment Fellowship to study abroad from 1963 to 1964. This allowed him not only to attend the State Academy of Arts at Amsterdam, but to travel to Paris as well, studying at Stanley William Hayter's Atelier 17. There, he met and was mentored by Krishna Reddy, fellow countryman and a pioneer of the color viscosity technique. This print was likely created at this time, and it displays the hallmarks of the famed experiemental printmaking workshop: freeform exploration of line and texture, and a three dimensionality that comes from a deeply bitten metal plate.

Mansaram's work flew under the radar more than his peers who remained in India and Europe. On his arrival in Canada, Abstract Expressionism had not yet made the impression it had in the U.S. and the rest of the Western World; additionally, he faced prejudice from Canadian art institutions. However, he continued to create art, eventually delving into multi-media collage that highlighted the colors, textures, fabrics, and symbolism of his birthplace. His work is now counted as among the most significant of the Indian Modernist disapora of the 20th century.