Important Notice

Lot 2

Born in 1919, Harold Leventhal’s association with India began when he was posted to the country during the Second World War as a member of the Signal Corps. Between 1944 and 1946 Leventhal made many friends in India, especially within the political circles of the Congress Party. Following his return to the United States, Leventhal founded the ‘American Friends of India’ group, and paid several subsequent visits to the subcontinent. It was during... Born in 1919, Harold Leventhal’s association with India began when he was posted to the country during the Second World War as a member of the Signal Corps. Between 1944 and 1946 Leventhal made many friends in India, especially within the political circles of the Congress Party. Following his return to the United States, Leventhal founded the ‘American Friends of India’ group, and paid several subsequent visits to the subcontinent. It was during these visits that he made friends with several artists including M. F. Husain, organized exhibitions of their work in New York, and built his own substantial archive of modern Indian art.

Leventhal passed away in 2005, leaving his heirs an immense collection of Indian art acquired directly from artists like Husain, of which the present lot is an important piece. One of the most powerful icons in Husain’s career, the horse is a symbol of vigour and vitality. In this piece, the three fierce horses resonate with multiple meanings. Born of Husain’s strong line and thick brushwork, these beasts paw at the ground, impatient to lead the future in. A symbol of the sun in Hindu mythology, the horse in Husain’s work also alluded to the heroic animals involved in the great battle of Karbala. In the present lot, the horses are rendered in the same, mythic spirit; portents of great change on the horizon.

“The horse as a multidimensional symbolic motif was itself to interest Husain deeply. During his travels in China in 1952 he studied the Sung dynasty renderings of horses. Later, in Europe, whereas he found the Renaissance horses unexciting, he was strongly attracted by Franz Marc’s work and Marino Marini’s archaic equestrian sculpture, with its balance between horizontal and vertical lines to achieve a feeling of solitary and monumental anguish. Husain’s own use of the horse motif has been, however more intuitive and complex” (R Bartholomew and S. Kapur, Husain, 1972, p. 39).

Read More
Artist Profile
Other works of this artist in: this auction  |  entire site