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Lot Essay
Maqbool Fida Husain’s horses are not plastic forms treated to stylistic variations; rather, they are sensuous creatures that have become his personal symbols. “Art has to evolve from your very being, like my horses [...] I see them as ageless and immortal. They draw chariots in the great epics, they stand proudly in the poorest stables, they are embodiments of strength like the dragons of China.” (Artist statement, Where Art Thou: An Autobiography with Khalid Mohammad, Mumbai, 2002, p. xxii)
In this painting, the four bucking horses on the left seem to be welcoming a fifth to their pack, led in by a male figure reminiscent of Husain’s grandfather, Dada Abdul, who appears in several of the artist’s autobiographical works. All the figures are dramatically framed against a blue-grey background with only a hint of horizon, conveying the absolute freedom and raw, unimpeded power of the animals.
According to Ebrahim Alkazi, horses are usually recognised as symbols of the sun and knowledge, and are associated with life-giving and sustaining forces. Drawing from these mythic associations, Husain portrays his equestrian figures as powerful creatures with reared heads, flared nostrils and a tremendous sense of dynamism. “The relationship of the body to the stallion is a paradox of frenzy and unhurried movement. An elegant dissection of space with line and angle. There is a measure of squared off posture and high leaping which suggests the free dance of Martha Graham or hints at the ecstasy that is enclosed by the flashing lines of Bernini sculptural composition [...] Husain’s horse becomes a vehicle for multiple utterances – aggression power and protection. The fury of steeds in Karbala overtures or the brute strength of horses born and released from fabulous regions mutate into thunderbolt energies, phallic and omnipotent.” (R. Shahani, Let History Cut Across Me Without Me, New Delhi, 1993, p. 8)
In this painting, the four bucking horses on the left seem to be welcoming a fifth to their pack, led in by a male figure reminiscent of Husain’s grandfather, Dada Abdul, who appears in several of the artist’s autobiographical works. All the figures are dramatically framed against a blue-grey background with only a hint of horizon, conveying the absolute freedom and raw, unimpeded power of the animals.
According to Ebrahim Alkazi, horses are usually recognised as symbols of the sun and knowledge, and are associated with life-giving and sustaining forces. Drawing from these mythic associations, Husain portrays his equestrian figures as powerful creatures with reared heads, flared nostrils and a tremendous sense of dynamism. “The relationship of the body to the stallion is a paradox of frenzy and unhurried movement. An elegant dissection of space with line and angle. There is a measure of squared off posture and high leaping which suggests the free dance of Martha Graham or hints at the ecstasy that is enclosed by the flashing lines of Bernini sculptural composition [...] Husain’s horse becomes a vehicle for multiple utterances – aggression power and protection. The fury of steeds in Karbala overtures or the brute strength of horses born and released from fabulous regions mutate into thunderbolt energies, phallic and omnipotent.” (R. Shahani, Let History Cut Across Me Without Me, New Delhi, 1993, p. 8)