Nek Chand
Standing Woman, 2006
Metal armature with salvaged rags
62.5 x 32 x 14 cm. (24 ⅝ x 12 ⅝ x 5 ½ in.)
Further images
Nek Chand’s extraordinary creativity was deeply rooted in his Punjabi childhood in Shakargarh. His early years were filled with imaginative play, folk tales and handmade figures crafted from everyday materials....
Nek Chand’s extraordinary creativity was deeply rooted in his Punjabi childhood in Shakargarh. His early years were filled with imaginative play, folk tales and handmade figures crafted from everyday materials. After Partition, his family resettled in Chandigarh during its construction under Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier. Working as a road inspector, Chand was tasked with collecting debris from villages demolished to make way for the new capital.
These experiences converged in the Rock Garden, Chand’s secret project. In a tree-covered gorge near Sukhna Lake, he built a clandestine yet fantastical realm inspired by his lost village and the imagined kingdom of Sukrani - the name he gave to his vision of a divine realm. Over 18 years, Chand transformed scraps into a 13-acre world of waterfalls and courtyards, home to thousands of sculptures of animals, dancers, musicians and villagers, such as the present examples. Discovered by authorities in the mid-1970s, the Rock Garden was saved by public support, and Chand was appointed to oversee it full-time with government funding.
Awarded the Padma Shri in 1984, he continued his work until his death in 2015. Today, the Rock Garden remains one of India’s most beloved landmarks, visited by thousands daily and standing as a testament to the resilience, imagination and humility of Nek Chand.
Nek Chand's Rock Garden, Chandigarh
Reproduced from S. Bandyopadhyay and I. Jackson, The Collection, the Ruin and the Theatre: Architecture, Sculpture and Landscape in Nek Chand’s Rock Garden, Chandigarh, Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, 2007, p. 119
These experiences converged in the Rock Garden, Chand’s secret project. In a tree-covered gorge near Sukhna Lake, he built a clandestine yet fantastical realm inspired by his lost village and the imagined kingdom of Sukrani - the name he gave to his vision of a divine realm. Over 18 years, Chand transformed scraps into a 13-acre world of waterfalls and courtyards, home to thousands of sculptures of animals, dancers, musicians and villagers, such as the present examples. Discovered by authorities in the mid-1970s, the Rock Garden was saved by public support, and Chand was appointed to oversee it full-time with government funding.
Awarded the Padma Shri in 1984, he continued his work until his death in 2015. Today, the Rock Garden remains one of India’s most beloved landmarks, visited by thousands daily and standing as a testament to the resilience, imagination and humility of Nek Chand.
Nek Chand's Rock Garden, Chandigarh
Reproduced from S. Bandyopadhyay and I. Jackson, The Collection, the Ruin and the Theatre: Architecture, Sculpture and Landscape in Nek Chand’s Rock Garden, Chandigarh, Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, 2007, p. 119
Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist, Chandigarh, 2006Private British Collection
Literature
S. Bandyopadhyay and I. Jackson, The Collection, the Ruin and the Theatre: Architecture, Sculpture and Landscape in Nek Chand’s Rock Garden, Chandigarh, Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, 2007, illustration p. 76Join Our Mailing List
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