Important Notice

“[Husain] 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”

M F Husain’s art was shaped by modernist ideals and yet firmly rooted in India’s rich culture and living traditions. It served as a vital link between the country’s vast artistic heritage and the evolving aesthetic sensibility that... “[Husain] 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”

M F Husain’s art was shaped by modernist ideals and yet firmly rooted in India’s rich culture and living traditions. It served as a vital link between the country’s vast artistic heritage and the evolving aesthetic sensibility that emerged post Independence. By the 1960s, he had travelled widely throughout India and Europe, and his artistic style skilfully brought together European and Indian influences, as evident in the present lot, where a Cubist-inspired nude figure appears alongside an elephant-a motif often found in Indian mythology. During this time, Husain explored and integrated the forms and poses of classical Indian dancers, musicians, and ancient sculptures into his work, particularly the iconic tribhanga or tri-axial pose.

The painting centres the female form, a significant and recurring motif in Husain’s works. He conveys the dynamism and movement of Indian sculpture through fluid yet confident angular lines. As art historian Yashodhara Dalmia asserts, “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, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 109)

Husain’s lasting engagement with Indian sculpture was sparked on a visit to an exhibition of traditional Indian art at Rashtrapati Bhavan with fellow Progressive Artists’ Group member F N Souza in 1947. Remarking on the significance of this encounter, Dalmia writes, “...it was in many ways a turning point in his career. It was at this juncture that he conceived his essential form that is pivotal to his work. He states, ‘One reason why I went back to the Gupta period of sculpture was to study the human form-when the British ruled we were taught to draw a figure with the proportions from Greek and Roman sculpture... That was what I thought was wrong...In the east the human form is an entirely different structure... the way a woman walks in the village there are three breaks...from the feet, the hips and shoulder…they move in rhythm...the walk of a European is erect and archaic.’” (Dalmia, p. 102) These insights from the exhibition were later deepened on further travels, notably to the Madras Museum in 1954 and to Khajuraho in the 1950s, where he immersed himself in Chola bronzes and the Chandela dynasty temple sculptures, respectively.

The work presents a striking contrast between sensuality and an enigmatic asceticism in its depiction of the female subject. The torso and lower body are shaped with the elegance of a dancer’s form. Art critic Shiv Kumar notes, “...strong, angular lines and flatly applied patches of colour are the instrumentation of the female form. Woman is seen either as a creation of lyric poetry, a sculpturesque and rhythmic figure of dance, or as an agent of fecundity. She does not tempt, she receives.” (Shiv S Kapur, Husain, Richard Bartholomew and Shiv S Kapur, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1972, p. 46) Yet, in contrast to the sensual form, the woman’s face conveys stillness and introspection. As Dalmia observes, rather than evoking desire, the figure appears “ascetic [...] Husain’s women are always enshrouded in an invisible veil, the simplicity of their form countered by their inaccessibility.” (Dalmia, pp. 110-111). She suggests that this nuanced portrayal of the feminine may stem from Husain’s early experiences growing up in a Muslim household, shaped in part by the profound loss of his mother during his childhood.

The elephant placed in the woman’s palm is one of the several recurring animal motifs in Husain’s work that carry rich symbolism. Here, it reinforces the theme of fertility, a quality the animal embodies in Indian culture. It holds a prominent place in mythology-most notably as the elephant-headed deity Ganesha, and as Airavat, the celestial white elephant that serves as the mount of the Hindu god Indra. It is also evoked in the Sanskrit phrase gaja gamini, which describes the graceful, sensuous gait of a woman.

Speaking of Husain’s use of symbolism in his work, critic Geeta Kapur explains, “Husain creates human characters that confront his emotive ideas; to reach further into the terrains of the human condition he introduces with them a dialogue of metaphorical characters. Thus his art is studded with symbolic images that are introduced naturally and in continual juxtaposition with the more explicit images. These symbols are not to be read in any literal sense. They are to be comprehended as they are painted, intuitively, with their own fluid logic [...] In his best paintings…they perform actively; change meanings, relate unexpectedly to each other and establish new relationships within a fully integrated formal structure. Then Husain is able to create personal myths that are provocative, intimate, incursions into the unconscious.” (Geeta Kapur, Husain: Sadanga Series by Vakils, Bombay: Vakils, Circa 1968, p. 3)

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