Saraswati, Goddess of Learning and Music
Y. G. Srimati Indian
Not on view
A seminal work in the artist’s early suite of pictures devoted to Brahmanic subjects, Saraswati represents Srimati’s “patron saint” in her pursuit of all the fine arts. The goddess is shown as a beautiful, youthful woman seated on the open petals of a lotus and playing a vina. In her raised hand she holds a rosary (mala) and in the lower hand a book in the traditional palm-leaf format (pustaka), invoking wisdom and knowledge. The background of billowing clouds became a signature motif of many of Srimati’s later figure studies. The painting, a majestic rendering of a perennial subject in Indian art, was exhibited in Srimati’s 1952 and 1955 Indian solo exhibitions. It appears in several studio photographs of the period as the centerpiece of the artist’s household shrine in the family’s Chennai residence, where Saraswati Puja was celebrated.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
