Lot Essay - ( DAG Auction – 20th Century Indian Art - December 6, 2016)
Trained in diverse arts, Sultan Ali studied the use of symbols in cultures, Hindu mythology, iconography and deity worship as well as folk art. The alphabet and the symbol became manifest in a variety of ways in his work in the 1970's featuring tribal and folk forms, deities and elements from Tantra art. In this work, the artist depicts a lion with the word 'Kesari' written on it, the Gujarati synonym for lion, coming from Ali's long association with Gujarat. The lion tramples people underfoot and the tribal deity to the right is perhaps invoked for protection.