Modern British & 20th Century Art Part I - 11th December 2025
Lot 551
Paritosh Sen (Indian 1918-2008)
Estimate £8,000 - £12,000 | Hammer £38000
Inc. Buyers Premium
Description
Paritosh Sen (Indian 1918-2008)
Seated Woman
Signed P. SEN (lower centre), and bears inscription MR MARCHANT (to verso) and Price -18,000 (to stretcher)
Oil on canvas
92 x 60cm
Provenance:
The Collection of Ernest Cecil and Margaret Marchant (Lots 551-556);
And by family descent
Ernest Cecil Marchant was Principle of Daly College in Indore from 1939-1946, and was accompanied to India with his wife Margaret and their two daughters Alison and Lesley. In 1940 Marchant appointed a young Paritosh Sen as Art Master at the school, and Margaret's letters mention receiving drawing and painting lessons from him. Marchant family tradition says that it was Ernest who introduced the work of Van Gogh to Sen through reproductions, and the influence is clear in The Reapers (lot 553). Sen went on to form the highly influential Calcutta Group, the first Indian modernist artist collective, in 1943. This collection of Indian works were purchased by the Marchants directly from the artists and have passed by family descent to the present owner.