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Lot 34

 

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M F Husain’s extensive travel during his formative years informed his oeuvre to a large extent. It proved to be a time of profound learning for the artist in every aspect - he honed his composition based on Jain and Basohli miniature painting, studied the forms of Mathura sculpture, and mastered fluid lines of Chinese calligraphy. Furthermore, he expanded his understanding of European modern masters’ works and infused that influence in order to... M F Husain’s extensive travel during his formative years informed his oeuvre to a large extent. It proved to be a time of profound learning for the artist in every aspect - he honed his composition based on Jain and Basohli miniature painting, studied the forms of Mathura sculpture, and mastered fluid lines of Chinese calligraphy. Furthermore, he expanded his understanding of European modern masters’ works and infused that influence in order to perfect his own approach to form and symbolism.

Combined with his command over colour and composition, Husain successfully created a new idiom- an amalgamation of his artistic indignation. “Behind every stroke of the artist’s brush is a vast hinterland of traditional concepts, forms and meanings. His vision is never uniquely his own; it is a new perspective given to the collective experience of his race. It is in this fundamental sense that we speak of Husain being in the authentic tradition of Indian art. He has been unique in his ability to forge a pictorial language which is indisputably of the contemporary Indian situation but surcharged with all the energies, the rhythms of his art heritage.” (Ebrahim Alkazi, M F Husain: The Modern Artist and Tradition, New Delhi: Art Heritage, 1978, p. 3)

While Husain’s works draw from a lifetime of dedicated learning and observation, his prowess as an artist lies in his impeccable technique. “Above all else, it was the line that was Husain’s strongest element and he used it with a bounding energy in his work. The deft strokes that came from an early acquaintance with calligraphy now encased the figure in simple, economic points of intersection.” (Yashodhara Dalmia, “A Metaphor for Modernity,” The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 109)

With regard to his muse, the human figure has been at the forefront of Husain’s art, and “the vehicle for his exploration of the nature and drama of reality.” (Richard Bartholomew and Shiv S Kapur, Husain, New York: Harry N Abrams, Inc., 1972, p. 36). While women, in particular, began to dominate his canvas during the late 1940’s, Husain was noted to have been “less interested in the female form per se and more in their social characterisation as rural women.” (K Bikram Singh, Maqbool Fida Husain, New Delhi: Rahul Art, 2008, p. 101). As Yashodhara Dalmia observes, Husain’s female figures are “far from arousing passion, are ascetic.” As can be noted in the present lot, “it is almost as if he strips the sculptures of all exterior embellishments to arrive at their basic sense of movement. Husain’s women are always enshrouded in an invisible veil, the simplicity of their form countered by their inaccessibility.” (Dalmia, pp. 110-111)

In the present lot, Husain depicts a female figure, whose gaze is turned away from the viewer, unencumbered by the focus. Featuring a high-contrast palette, he uses shades of blue to cut through the otherwise earthy tones of the composition. “The central concern of Husain’s art, and its dominant motif, is woman... Spiritually, woman is more enduring… an inward attentiveness, as if she were listening to the life coursing within her.” (Richard Bartholomew and Shiv S Kapur, p. 46)

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