Maqbool Fida Husain

Purchased from a private collection, Delhi by the present owner

Good overall condition, as viewed. Minor paint shrinkage in brown pigment in lower left quadrant.
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The present untitled work by MF Husain, painted in the 1970s, depicts three tribal women, their faces and figures enveloped by bangles, heavy jewelry and vibrant textiles. Compare the present work toan untitled work from 1970 (see below). Both works that are composed with a similar palette of blue, orange, red and green, portray a central abstracted female figure who dominates the canvas with a face composed of geometric color planes.

Dr. Daniel Herwitz explains: “The central concern of Husain’s art, and its dominant motif, is woman … Strong angular lines and flatly applied patches of color are the instrument 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.” (D. Herwitz, Husain, Delhi, 1988, p. 46)

In so many of his beloved paintings, Husain demonstrates his inclination toward the portrayal of faceless and veiled women. The distinct faceless quality of Husain’s women alludes to an overarching feminine or mother principle, rather than of an individual entity or experience. Burdened by the loss of his mother as a very small child, and his subsequent inability to recall her face, Husain’s treatment of women throughout his long career reveals a mixture of tenderness, nostalgia and reverence. 

In his autobiography Where Art Thou, Husain explains his longing: “… whenever he [i.e. Husain] chances upon a Maharashtrian sari … he searches for her in the pleats of the sari. He imagines the face of the mother. He longs to touch her breath, he longs to feel her presence. He is restless, continues to look for her everywhere. But where, where, where? It is this undying ember of love that has seen him through the troughs and peaks. Absurdly, on occasion, he wonders whether she is hiding herself from him, so that she can still inspire him. She could be amidst the grand sculptures of the goddesses in the Ajanta caves. She could be as timeless as Mohenjodaro. Motherless Maqbool. Empty of the memory of her face ... She did not need an outline/or a face ...  A mother lives/even in absentia”
(Husain, Where Art Thou, Delhi, 2002, p.18)