Not currently on display at the V&A

Drawing

1983 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This drawing depicts a rough sketch of a seated bull. The proud-looking bull comfortably occupies the entire surface. One of a series of preliminary drawings for the Bull sculture executed for the Liverpool Garden Festival 1984. The museum possesses two technical drawings of the sculpture as well as the maquette for the sculpture.

Dhruva Mistry was born in Kanjari, (Gujarat) in 1957. He studied sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University of Baroda (1974-79), graduating with distinction and a gold medal. He went on to gain an MA at Baroda (1979-81) and then came to Britain on a British Council scholarship to take an MA in sculpture at the Royal College of Art (1981-83). Mistry has since gained international recognition and many prizes. He was elected Royal Academician in 1991 and was the first Indian sculptor to be made Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1993. In 1997 he returned to Vadadora and in 1997 was appointed Professor, Head of Sculpture and Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Baroda. He was awarded an honorary CBE in 2001.

Mistry's work ranges from huge public commissions to maquettes and wall reliefs, related in part to Hinduism and Buddhism, but also encompassing influences from the West - Egyptian and Cycladic art and European traditions of figurative sculpture. Not all of his work is narrative; in some pieces he explores the processes of making art and the inevitable intellectual debate that ensues between artist and viewer, whether implied or expressed.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Pencil on heavy cartridge paper, watermarked T.H. Saunders England
Brief description
Drawing, a bull, by Dhruva Mistry, pencil on paper, United Kingdom, 1983
Physical description
Drawing, pencil on paper, rough sketch of a seated bull, facing towards left. One of a series of preliminary drawings for the Bull sculpture executed for the Liverpool Garden Festival 1984. See also preparatory drawings IS 190/190a 1984 and the maquette of the sculpture IS.150-1984.
Dimensions
  • Height: 58cm
  • Width: 77.7cm
Content description
A bull.
Marks and inscriptions
'Dhruva Mistry '83' (Signed and dated on lower right corner)
Object history
Purchased from Anthony Stokes. Rp 84/1043
Historical context
Dhruva Mistry was born in Kanjari, (Gujarat) in 1957. He studied sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University of Baroda (1974-79), graduating with distinction and a gold medal. He went on to gain an MA at Baroda (1979-81) and then came to Britain on a British Council scholarship to take an MA in sculpture at the Royal College of Art (1981-83). Mistry has since gained international recognition and many prizes. He was elected Royal Academician in 1991 and was the first Indian sculptor to be made Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1993. In 1997 he returned to Vadadora and in 1997 was appointed Professor, Head of Sculpture and Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Baroda. He was awarded an honorary CBE in 2001.
Subject depicted
Summary
This drawing depicts a rough sketch of a seated bull. The proud-looking bull comfortably occupies the entire surface. One of a series of preliminary drawings for the Bull sculture executed for the Liverpool Garden Festival 1984. The museum possesses two technical drawings of the sculpture as well as the maquette for the sculpture.

Dhruva Mistry was born in Kanjari, (Gujarat) in 1957. He studied sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University of Baroda (1974-79), graduating with distinction and a gold medal. He went on to gain an MA at Baroda (1979-81) and then came to Britain on a British Council scholarship to take an MA in sculpture at the Royal College of Art (1981-83). Mistry has since gained international recognition and many prizes. He was elected Royal Academician in 1991 and was the first Indian sculptor to be made Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1993. In 1997 he returned to Vadadora and in 1997 was appointed Professor, Head of Sculpture and Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Baroda. He was awarded an honorary CBE in 2001.

Mistry's work ranges from huge public commissions to maquettes and wall reliefs, related in part to Hinduism and Buddhism, but also encompassing influences from the West - Egyptian and Cycladic art and European traditions of figurative sculpture. Not all of his work is narrative; in some pieces he explores the processes of making art and the inevitable intellectual debate that ensues between artist and viewer, whether implied or expressed.
Bibliographic reference
Contemporary Art in Baroda, ed by Gulammohammed Sheikh, Tulika, 1997
Collection
Accession number
IS.151-1984

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Record createdJune 25, 2009
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