George Biddle, Indian Village Scene

In the last twenty years of his life, Biddle developed a wanderlust that led him to Japan, Southeast Asia, India, and Italy. He made more than fifty drawings of the people and sights of the Indian subcontinent, which he published in 1960 as a book, Indian Impressions. While in Bombay (present-day Mumbai), he was struck by the Buddhist art and the destitution of the beggars in the city.

Here two figures squat on the outskirts of their community, staring at the viewer. Biddle uses a variety of colors to model and outline the scene: the figures’ clothes are shaded with blues, greens, and yellows, and their bodies are outlined with red and green.