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Lot 38

 

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Inspired by the arts of ancient India, particularly after a 1948 visit to the India Independence Exhibition in Delhi, M.F. Husain’s body of work has always drawn references from various indigenous and classical arts, including sculpture, music and dance. It is not surprising, then, that the women he paints are frequently depicted in the traditional ‘tribhanga’ or tri-axial position, which was believed to best portray their beauty and grace in... Inspired by the arts of ancient India, particularly after a 1948 visit to the India Independence Exhibition in Delhi, M.F. Husain’s body of work has always drawn references from various indigenous and classical arts, including sculpture, music and dance. It is not surprising, then, that the women he paints are frequently depicted in the traditional ‘tribhanga’ or tri-axial position, which was believed to best portray their beauty and grace in classical Indian sculpture.

“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” (E. Alkazi, M.F. Husain: The Modern Artist and Tradition, Art Heritage exhibition catalogue, p. 3).

In the present lot, a large horizontal canvas bathed in shades of blue and grey, Husain depicts a musical performance in action. On the left side of the frame, symmetrically divided into half by the figure of a man playing the ‘dholki’ or portable drum, the women appear to be musicians, while the ones to the drummer’s right seem to be the dancers adhering to their beat. Relating the aesthetics of modern art with the movements of classical Indian dance, the sounds of different Ragas, and the sculpted sensuality of temple carvings, Husain “has tuned himself into the disciplines of several arts. The vibrations of dance, music and Urdu poetry are caught in a jagged thrust of lines and colours. He can draw and paint with complete surrender to the sound and graphic representations of these modes. Musical rhythm or pure sound finds its way easily into the schemes of the paintings” (Roshan Shahani, Let History Cut Across Me without Me, Vadehra Art Gallery exhibition catalogue, 1993, p. 1).

Here, the figure of the sitar player, featured in many of Husain’s paintings on the theme, is given a prominent position facing the viewer. Along with the other women, she is depicted in the tribhanga position, and appears to move with them in unrehearsed rhythm, the positioning of her limbs only slightly different from theirs. It is interesting to note that while all women in the composition face the viewer, the single male drummer, depicted in darker colours, looks into the frame, affording the viewer an easy point of entry into the composition.

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