Playful Elephant Bathing in Dust
Preparatory to every Indian painting is an underdrawing, typically executed in charcoal (to allow it to be erased when no longer needed) but also sometimes in ink applied by brush. Here the artist used fine brushwork to realize this quirky study of an elephant at play. The animal appears to be enjoying rolling in the earth (“bathing in dust”). The elephant’s dramatic contrapposto position—with his body rolled and his head and trunk raised in a seemingly joyful expression—adds to the whimsical air of the drawing, which probably served as a model for a larger finished painting or mural.
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