Important Notice

"With Husain modern art finally arrives in India." (Richard Bartholomew and Shiv S. Kapur, Husain, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, New York, 1971, pg. 28)

Among many prolific things, Maqbool Fida Husain was known for his symbolist style of art. He visited certain figures, signs and symbols frequently, each time in a new, but fairly distinctive way, that was imaginative and traditional at the same time. Husain was fascinated with the... "With Husain modern art finally arrives in India." (Richard Bartholomew and Shiv S. Kapur, Husain, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, New York, 1971, pg. 28)

Among many prolific things, Maqbool Fida Husain was known for his symbolist style of art. He visited certain figures, signs and symbols frequently, each time in a new, but fairly distinctive way, that was imaginative and traditional at the same time. Husain was fascinated with the human form, and the female figure in particular was a dominant motif in his art. Sensuous in form, and bearing angular, sculptural lines, Husain's images of women, often nude, contained several evocative meanings-from sexual beings to bearers of motherhood.

Animals were also a recurring symbol in his art: the horse is unequivocally synonymous with Husain's art. But he was also quite invested in the elephant, and its numerous associations with Hindu mythology. His two main preoccupations-woman and animal-are brought together consistently.

"Husain frequently juxtaposes the figure of the nude or a semi-clothed woman with the figures of elephants in his paintings. But unlike his horses with nudes, his elephants and women paintings have only a sensuous quality without erotic overtones." (K. Bikram Singh, Husain, Rahul & Art, New Delhi, 2008, pg. 195) In the present lot, we see these elements come together in flat planes and subtle tones that invoke a brooding, dark world, characteristic of some of Husain's work. For Bikram Singh, there is "a very subtle allusion...to mythical motherly association between the elephant and the mother". (Ibid, pg. 195)

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