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“Husain’s painted horses do not just bear majestic stateliness and striking beauty but also come alive in every mood, situation and form. Their forceful movement conveys so much that it carries us away with it.”

M F Husain first began painting horses in the early 1950s, at the outset of his artistic career. The motif soon became a cornerstone of his oeuvre not as mere plastic forms but as powerful, archetypal creatures that... “Husain’s painted horses do not just bear majestic stateliness and striking beauty but also come alive in every mood, situation and form. Their forceful movement conveys so much that it carries us away with it.”

M F Husain first began painting horses in the early 1950s, at the outset of his artistic career. The motif soon became a cornerstone of his oeuvre not as mere plastic forms but as powerful, archetypal creatures that evolved into both a personal and universal form of expression. His horses are archetypal and, as Richard Bartholomew observed, “...subterranean creatures. Their nature is not intellectualised: it is rendered as 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, Husain, Richard Bartholomew and Shiv S Kapur, New York: Harry N Abrams, Inc., 1971, p. 43)

Husain’s horses emerged from a confluence of influences that spanned East and West. They drew inspiration from his childhood memories of carousels and terracotta toys, the regal steeds of the Maharaja of Indore’s cavalry, and Duldul, the symbolic horse of Imam Hussain carried during Muharram processions. The artist also absorbed imagery from India’s diverse visual and cultural traditions, including the Bankura horse of West Bengal to the chariot horses of the Sun God at Konark, and the Ashwamedha, the legendary stallion of the Mahabharata.

His engagement with the image of the horse also deepened through his exposure to global art during his early travels abroad. Critic Geeta Kapur notes, “Upon the initial image of the Duldul horse… he has superimposed many varieties of horses; the horses from Chinese paintings which he saw during his visit to China in 1952; the big?rumped horses of Paolo Uccello; the horses of Marino Marini with their phallic necks; the shy, dream horses of Franz Marc. These contrary varieties resolve themselves with Husain into an image of a wild horse, a beautiful noble creature of vast spaces.” (Geeta Kapur, “Maqbool Fida Husain: Folklore and Fiesta”, Contemporary Indian Artists, New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House Pvt Ltd, 1978, p. 138)

Most notably, Husain’s horses are rarely motionless. Rather, as in the present lot, they “are rampant or galloping; the manes, the fury, the working buttocks, the prancing legs, and the strong neighing heads with dilated nostrils are blocks of colour which are vivid or tactile or are propelled in their significant progression by strokes of the brush or sweeps of the palette knife. The activity depicted is transformed in the activity of paint.” (Bartholomew, p. 20) This dynamism and energy, a hallmark of Husain’s visual language, was in part inspired by his encounter with Chinese artist Xu Beihong’s monumental depiction of horses in motion during a visit to China in 1952. The lingering influence of Chinese ink painting is also visible in the planes of black pigment delineating the horses, which recall the fluidity of ink washes.

As Kapur remarks, “Poetically the horse is a solar symbol, leading the chariot of the sun?god across the blazing skies. This is the spirit of Husain’s horses, proud and dynamic, whichever context he may place them in [...] For Husain, the horse seems to stand for super?human forces, powerful not only for its stampeding arrogance, but because of its greater sophistication.” (Geeta Kapur, “Analytical Notes on Plates Illustrating Chronological Development of Husain’s Art”, Dr Mulk Raj Anand ed., Husain: Sadanga Series by Vakils, Bombay: Vakils, p. 41)

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