Important Notice

Lot 29

 

Quick Zoom

Born in the pilgrimage town of Pandharpur, Maharashtra, M F Husain's exposure to the Hindu epics was organic. He grew up watching community performances and plays such as Ram Lila and Ramayana quite frequently. Evolving into one of India's most popular and celebrated artists, his works are marked by a recurrent back and forth to his roots that he found in faith and mythology. Thus, his artistic expression often cites mythology as a constant... Born in the pilgrimage town of Pandharpur, Maharashtra, M F Husain's exposure to the Hindu epics was organic. He grew up watching community performances and plays such as Ram Lila and Ramayana quite frequently. Evolving into one of India's most popular and celebrated artists, his works are marked by a recurrent back and forth to his roots that he found in faith and mythology. Thus, his artistic expression often cites mythology as a constant reference, dictating his subjective and thematic oeuvre.

"You say tradition is the past but in India it is living... I like to go to the epics because there I find the roots... I look to the roots to discover what form the symbols have... I like to relate all these symbols and images to the present situation... to make these symbols come alive..." (Artist quoted in K Bikram Singh, Maqbool Fida Husain, New Delhi: Rahul and Art, 2008, p. 136)

His most significant project inspired by religious lore took shape in the late 1960s, as a series of paintings based on episodes from the Ramayana that he executed at the advice of Ram Manohar Lohia. This was followed by his works on the Mahabharata which were exhibited alongside Pablo Picasso as an invitee to the Sao Paulo Biennale in 1971, marking his accession to fame and veneration as one of India's leading modern artists. Transitioning into the 1980s, Husain experimented with various mediums and collaborated with master weavers for tapestries and goldsmiths to create unusual jewellery based on religious icons such as Krishna, Ganesha, Hanuman, and Durga among others. He then continued to represent India's composite heritage, painting deities to include a few Ganeshas. He rendered these in oil and watercolour, in a distinctive style, making some faces blank and detailing others on an undefined basis.

"Having lived in Mumbai for several decades where Ganesha in the form of Ganapati is a popular deity, Husain seems to be aware of the power and complexity of this myth. As an artist, Husain has obviously enjoyed himself in painting a number of Ganeshas. More so, because the unique form of Ganesha, that is part elephant and part human, is as attractive for the artists as for his worshippers."(K Bikram Singh, pp. 151, 155) His works depicting Ganesha exhibit a playfulness, reflecting his accessible and friendly characterisation. The image is conforming to the convention, with one tusk for his recognition as Ekadanta, without particular iconography or other attributes. The present lot is one such Ganesha image, seated, elephant headed with a human body, clad in simple garments without his Vahan or vehicle, a mouse, delineated in vibrant hues.

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