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Lot Essay
Black Hill belongs to a small group of abstract paintings undertaken by Husain in 1964 that also include Red Landscape Chittore Fort and Red Desert. Painted in a similar style, the series was inspired by Husain's frequent trips to Rajasthan between 1960 and 1966 and is most likely a reference to the low Aravalli hills of Rajasthan noted for their intrusions of black lava rocks. "He travelled to the Rajasthan desert as if an unknown force had pulled him there." (M.F. Husain with K. Mohammed, Where Art Thou, Mumbai, 2002, p. 130)
In 1959, Husain was awarded the Rockefeller grant and travelled to New York, where he saw firsthand the works of the Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. Abstraction was sweeping the art world, but Husain remained firmly rooted as a painter of figures. As an Indian, he claims he could be nothing other than a figurative painter, as "wherever he turns he encounters a human being he cannot ignore." (G. Kapur, Contemporary Indian Artists, New Delhi, 1978, p. 134)
These rare abstract experiments by Husain were in part an answer to his then critics who were prepared to consign him to history for not keeping up with the avant garde movements of the time. In spirit, they are closest to the works of S.H. Raza, who was attempting to capture in abstraction his childhood memories of the central Indian plains. While Raza continued to become [and remain] an abstract painter, Husain soon reverted to his interest in the human figure though he often employed the techniques of drip painting in his subsequent works. . (A. Jhaveri and R. Dean, M.F. Husain: Early Masterpieces 1950s - 70s, London, 2006, unpaginated)
In 1959, Husain was awarded the Rockefeller grant and travelled to New York, where he saw firsthand the works of the Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. Abstraction was sweeping the art world, but Husain remained firmly rooted as a painter of figures. As an Indian, he claims he could be nothing other than a figurative painter, as "wherever he turns he encounters a human being he cannot ignore." (G. Kapur, Contemporary Indian Artists, New Delhi, 1978, p. 134)
These rare abstract experiments by Husain were in part an answer to his then critics who were prepared to consign him to history for not keeping up with the avant garde movements of the time. In spirit, they are closest to the works of S.H. Raza, who was attempting to capture in abstraction his childhood memories of the central Indian plains. While Raza continued to become [and remain] an abstract painter, Husain soon reverted to his interest in the human figure though he often employed the techniques of drip painting in his subsequent works. . (A. Jhaveri and R. Dean, M.F. Husain: Early Masterpieces 1950s - 70s, London, 2006, unpaginated)