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拍品专文
Icons from Hindu religious texts and mythology were a recurring theme in Maqbool Fida Husain’s paintings. The artist started painting Indian gods and goddesses, reconfiguring them with his unique visual vocabulary as early as the 1950s, and has been both praised and criticized for these portrayals. This painting of a female warrior in red, riding a tiger and brandishing a spear, is likely inspired by traditional depictions of the Goddess Durga. In Hinduism, Durga, also known as Shakti or Devi, is the protector of all that is good and harmonious in the world. She is usually portrayed in painting and sculpture riding a lion, with her multiple arms holding different weapons. It is also believed that Durga was created by the Hindu triumvirate or trimurti consisting of the three gods, Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma to slay the buffalo demon Mahisasura.
The present lot underlines Husain’s virtuosic ability to synthesize classical Indian aesthetics and aspects of European Modernism, a hallmark of his inimitable and acclaimed style. His use of a bright color palette comprising hues of red, orange and yellow along with heavy impasto conveys movement and gives this powerful female figure emotive energy. Husain was strongly influenced by depictions of Indian mythology in classical painting and sculpture as well as by the styles of Mughal, Jain and Basholi miniature paintings.
This painting also highlights the artist's interest in depicting women as protagonists in his work. Throughout his extensive career, Husain portrayed female figures as heroines in the semi-abstract modernist style he is known for, inflected with Indian characteristics without being in the least parochial. Here, Husain's subject is both goddess and everywoman, combining the mythical and ordinary in the artist's characteristic style.
The present lot underlines Husain’s virtuosic ability to synthesize classical Indian aesthetics and aspects of European Modernism, a hallmark of his inimitable and acclaimed style. His use of a bright color palette comprising hues of red, orange and yellow along with heavy impasto conveys movement and gives this powerful female figure emotive energy. Husain was strongly influenced by depictions of Indian mythology in classical painting and sculpture as well as by the styles of Mughal, Jain and Basholi miniature paintings.
This painting also highlights the artist's interest in depicting women as protagonists in his work. Throughout his extensive career, Husain portrayed female figures as heroines in the semi-abstract modernist style he is known for, inflected with Indian characteristics without being in the least parochial. Here, Husain's subject is both goddess and everywoman, combining the mythical and ordinary in the artist's characteristic style.