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Lot 65

 

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“Art has to evolve from your very being, like my horses I see them as ageless and immortal. They draw chariots in the great epics, they stand proudly in the poorest stables, they are embodiments of strength.”
– M F HUSAIN

M F Husain’s preoccupation with horses began early in his life, leading to the equine figure remaining a recurrent muse throughout his career. He was barely three or four years old when the image of the horse... “Art has to evolve from your very being, like my horses I see them as ageless and immortal. They draw chariots in the great epics, they stand proudly in the poorest stables, they are embodiments of strength.”
– M F HUSAIN

M F Husain’s preoccupation with horses began early in his life, leading to the equine figure remaining a recurrent muse throughout his career. He was barely three or four years old when the image of the horse started to take root as an important aspect of his consciousness, “observing and drawing horses in their perfect form and likeness using coal or pieces of chalk on the walls of his school and in his notebooks.” (Rashda Siddiqui, M F Husain: In Conversation with Husain Paintings, New Delhi: Books Today, 2001, p. 110)

His fascination with the animal was fuelled primarily by his childhood experience of accompanying his grandfather, Dada Abdul, in his visits to the local horseshoe maker. He recalls hearing the grown men chat about “the advent of motor cars and dwindling horse buggies, electric lights replacing the tin lamps and lanterns... nostalgia for a time which was dying before their eyes.” (Ila Pal, “Maria, The New Beginning,” Beyond The Canvas: An Unfinished Portrait of M F Husain, New Delhi: Indus, 1994, p. 79) Equally influential were the effigies of the ‘Horse of Imam Hussain’ which he often witnessed at Muharram processions in Indore during his childhood.

Husain’s rendition of the horse also echoes influences from the diverse cultures and artistic traditions he gained exposure to when travelling abroad in his early years. From the monochromatic paintings of horses by Xu Beihong and the Tang pottery horses he encountered during his trip to China in 1952, to the works of Franz Marc and Mario Marini and the mythical figures from ancient Greek culture he came across during his time in Europe, the various portrayals of the majestic animal in these cultures deeply impacted Husain’s style.

Upon his return to India, he explored the many moods and nuances of horses, painting them with the same frenetic energy that they represent through their bucking and rearing postures. As seen in the present lot, by the mid-1960s, Husain’s compositions featuring horses, which were mostly accompanied by a female figure, began appearing riderless – thus, accentuating the simple yet dynamic form of the animal.

Husain was captivated by the form, power, and imagery of the horse until the final phase of hislife and career. His horses were vivacious creatures, often captured in motion, that were imbued with a sense of exaggerated power and fearlessness that is representative of change. “The horses are rampant or galloping; the manes, the fury, the working buttocks, the prancing legs, and the strong neighing heads with dilated nostrils are blocks of colour which are vivid or tactile or are propelled in their significant progression by strokes of the brush or sweeps of the palette knife. The activity depicted is transformed in the activity of paint.” (Ebrahim Alkazi, M F Husain: The Modern Artist and Tradition, New Delhi: Art Heritage, 1978, p. 3)

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