Maqbool Fida Husain (1913 - 2011)

Acquired from Chemould Gallery, Bombay in 1967

Good overall condition.
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This exceptional painting demonstrates Husain’s continued pre-occupation with classical Indian sculptural sources. Here, as with other paintings from this period, Husain’s approach to the figure is derived from the ancient tribhanga pose; with a break at the feet, hips and shoulder, creating a fluidity and rhythm that is distinctively Indian. The tight overlapping forms of the figures are reminiscent of the frieze panels of north Indian temples. Yashodhara Dalmia has mentioned that 'Husain drew from the classical, the miniature and the folk and attempted to meld them into a language which formulated the present.' (Y. Dalmia, M.F. Husain: Early Masterpieces 1950s-70s, London, 2006).

In 1948, Husain visited the India Independence Exhibition with Francis Newton Souza and was struck by the classical Indian sculpture and traditional miniature painting from the Rajput and Pahari courts. The artist describes the influence the exhibition was to have on his work "...it was humbling. I came back to Bombay and in '48, I came out with five paintings, which was the turning point in my life. I deliberately picked up two to three periods of Indian history. One was the classical period of the Guptas, the very sensuous form of the female body. Next was the Basholi period, the strong colours of the Basholi miniatures. The last was the folk element. With these three combined, and using colours very boldly as I did with cinema hoardings, I went to town. That was the breaking point... to come out of the influence of the British academic painting and the Bengal Revivalist School." (Husain quoted in Nandy, The Illustrated Weekly of India, December 4-10, 1983).

Within the frieze-like composition of this painting the female figures dominate. Throughout his career Husain's women were often portrayed with a dignity and strength that was both ancient and modern. 'The central concern of Husain's art, and its dominant motif, is woman... Strong angular lines and flatly applied patches of colour 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)

 

These remarkable paintings belong to a German family collection. The collector was the daughter of a middle-class Indian Catholic Goan family from Bombay, who now lives in Germany. She was a member of The Bombay Choral Society and visited every exhibition she could, developing an early interest in art and music. After studying and working as a teacher, the collector reached her twenties and there was an expectation for her to marry. Whilst at one of the Bombay society parties, she met her future husband, a German pharmaceutical executive. Before the couple moved to Europe, the Indian lady wished to take a few mementos with her to remind her of India. The collector's instinct was to use the money to buy art and so she made her way to Chemould Gallery in Bombay, where she met Maqbool Fida Husain. She got to know him and was fascinated by his work, subsequently acquiring several of his paintings. She first encountered this Gaitonde painting at Chemould and was instantly struck by its beauty, but having made a number of recent purchases she declined to acquire it. However the memory of the painting lived on in her mind, and for her it came to epitomise her love of her homeland and she felt that she was destined to own it. So she went back to the gallery only to find that it was reserved to a gentleman who resided in Malabar Hill. The gentleman had taken the painting on loan. Coincidently he not only resided in the same area of Bombay as herself but also in the very same building. Determined to have the painting, she visited the gentleman and pleaded with him to give her the work. He soon recognised how much the painting meant to her and let her have it. Two years later, during the mid-1960s, the collector moved to Germany with her husband and the paintings have remained in the collection of her family ever since.