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Lot 44

 

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"Lost is the passage of sound
In my jungle.
Today the burnt bamboos
Have scratched
The heart of silent sky,
And greens sucked
In elephant jugs."
- M F HUSAIN

Animals recur frequently as motifs in M F Husain's works, possessing graceful, energetic forms. Depictions of elephants, tigers and horses, which are revered in Indian mythology, reference various qualities such as strength, energy,... "Lost is the passage of sound
In my jungle.
Today the burnt bamboos
Have scratched
The heart of silent sky,
And greens sucked
In elephant jugs."
- M F HUSAIN

Animals recur frequently as motifs in M F Husain's works, possessing graceful, energetic forms. Depictions of elephants, tigers and horses, which are revered in Indian mythology, reference various qualities such as strength, energy, magnificence, power and fertility in their myriad postures and moods. "When we look at these creatures we must remember that the animal is not the subject of Husain's painting; it is the demonic principle that he depicts which is neither good nor bad. The... horses and elephants have become symbols of power and pursuit, or of mysterious encounters." (Richard Bartholomew in Rati Bartholomew, Pablo Bartholomew, Carmen Kagal and Rosalyn D'Mello eds., Richard Bartholomew: The Art Critic, New Delhi: BART, p. 153)

Husain's travels deeply impacted his works of the 1960s, whether it was his first experimental film Through the Eyes of a Painter - a journey through the ancient towns of Rajasthan, which won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the Berlin Film Festival in 1967 - or the paintings he created following his visits to Kerala and Iraq. In the present lot, the artist heightens the emotion and frenzy of the scene using deliberate brushstrokes and bold colours. Husain was a colourist who often devised unique colour schemes based on the themes he dealt with - here, he uses various shades of brown and earth tones to depict the animals, surrounded by a deep green which situates the scene within a forest, such that "the dramatic is transmuted and becomes symbolic as each image is separated from its lifecontext, and unsupported by time and history, is given the freedom of an aesthetic environment." (Richard Bartholomew and Shiv S Kapur, Husain, New York: Harry N Abrams, Inc., 1971, p. 20)

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