Important Notice

M.F. Husain’s “…earliest memories of artistic participation were with the making of the tazias in Indore where twenty foot high effigies of horses were carried in procession during the final day of Muharram, as symbols of the martyrdom of Imam Husain the grandson of the Prophet. These gigantic horses signified all the valour of the warrior for the young boy and they emerged in some of his earliest paintings as animated, powerful animals”... M.F. Husain’s “…earliest memories of artistic participation were with the making of the tazias in Indore where twenty foot high effigies of horses were carried in procession during the final day of Muharram, as symbols of the martyrdom of Imam Husain the grandson of the Prophet. These gigantic horses signified all the valour of the warrior for the young boy and they emerged in some of his earliest paintings as animated, powerful animals” (Yashodhara Dalmia, “M.F. Husain: Reinventing India”, Early Masterpieces: 1950s-70s, Asia House, London, 2006, not paginated).

Husain has been fascinated by the figure of the horse ever since. The early years he spent in the company of his grandfather’s friend, Achan Mian the farrier only added to this fixation. As his oeuvre developed, “…Husain’s horse swept across continents, amalgamating various influences into a composite form. The duldul horse, which he had seen from his childhood on tazias in Muharram processions, had been modified, first by the Chinese rendering of the horse, and then by the plasticity of form in Franz Marc and Mario Marini’s balance between horizontal and vertical lines. Husain’s horses, however, are singularly his own” (Yashodhara Dalmia, The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2001, p. 107).

Today, the equestrian is an integral part of the artist’s body of work, symbolic of freedom, passion, strength, loyalty and virility amongst other qualities. “Husain’s own use of the horse motif has been, however more intuitive and complex… [Husain’s horses] are subterranean creatures. Their nature is not intellectualized; it is rendered as a sensation or as abstract movement, with a capacity to stir up vague premonitions and passions in a mixture of ritualistic fear and exultant anguish” (Richard Bartholomew and Shiv Kapur, Husain, Harry N. Abrams Inc., New York, 1972, p. 39, 40).

The present lot, vibrantly painted in dominant primary colours, portrays the frenzy of eight horses as they break out of a symbolic frame and rebelliously gallop towards a brilliant yellow sun, half-visible at the right margin. Rearing and bucking, these animals also represent the plethora of cultural and art historic influences that have shaped Husain’s artistic vocabulary and idiom.

According to ancient Indian iconography, for example, the anthropomorphic sun, Surya, rides a chariot of seven horses. In adding an eight white horse, Husain points to ancient China, a civilization that deeply influenced his rendering of this animal, where the number eight and the horse were both considered harbingers of luck and harmony. Another ancient Indian belief associated with the eighth white horse is that of the saviour meant to arrive at the very end of time. It is also believed that the forthcoming avatar of Vishnu, Kalki, will arrive riding a horse.

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