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拍品专文
“For Husain, the horse is an infinite resource, combining form, feeling and significance, always inviting, always exhilarating embodiment of cosmic energy” (S. Bean, ‘East Meets East in Husain’s Horses’, Lightning by M.F. Husain, New York, 2019, p. 44).
Maqbool Fida Husain’s horses are both personal and universal. They became a central part of his oeuvre since his first representation of the animal in the early 1950s, and are depicted as strong creatures, usually galloping, with reared heads and a tremendous sense of movement. Husain encountered the equine figure throughout his life across continents and cultures. He acknowledges the influence of Tang pottery horses and the paintings of galloping horses by Xu Beihong he studied on a trip to China, as well as the equestrian sculptures of the Italian artist Marino Marini, which he discovered during a trip across Europe. Horses also resonate with Husain's admiration for Ancient Greece, a civilization that championed and deified the equestrian form. The Trojan Horse, Pegasus and Alexander's prized Bucephalus are only a few iconic stallions that permeate the mythological and historical past of hallowed antiquity. As a filmmaker, it is also likely that Husain was inspired by Eadweard Muybridge’s iconic short film, The Horse in Motion.
The present lot, a masterful monochromatic depiction of a single horse, illustrates the significant influence of the aforementioned Chinese works of art and artists on Husain’s work, which lasted several decades after his first visit to the country as a delegate to the World Peace Congress in Beijing in 1952. In its subject and technique, this painting offers a particularly clear nod to the artist Xu Beihong, whose impressive range of lively equestrian ink paintings led Husain to bolster his own depictions of the animal with a new sense of energy and motion. “Inspired by Xu Beihong, Husain infused his horses with a new vigor, an enlivened energy of movement combining dragon-like elements of masculinity with feminine grace. Husain had found a way to transform the spiritual force of the Duldul horse of his childhood into an expressive form that would impart a new life to the horses of his canvases” (S. Bean, ‘East Meets East in Husain’s Horses’, Lightning by M.F. Husain, New York, 2019, p. 43).
Akin to many of Beihong’s galloping horses, Husain has depicted this horse using a three-quarter view, which highlights both the front and the muscular flank of the animal. Its head is turned back, facing the opposite direction of its apparent motion, which conveys a sense of contrast, liveliness, and conflict. In this work, Husain departs from the vibrant palette and decisive linework, for which he is most well-known, to create a unique portrayal paying tribute to artistic traditions from East Asia. The artist uses splashed ink and free-hand brush strokes to depict shape and shadow, leaving the canvas white to highlight his forms and express the unrestrained vitality and magnificence of his subject.
Maqbool Fida Husain’s horses are both personal and universal. They became a central part of his oeuvre since his first representation of the animal in the early 1950s, and are depicted as strong creatures, usually galloping, with reared heads and a tremendous sense of movement. Husain encountered the equine figure throughout his life across continents and cultures. He acknowledges the influence of Tang pottery horses and the paintings of galloping horses by Xu Beihong he studied on a trip to China, as well as the equestrian sculptures of the Italian artist Marino Marini, which he discovered during a trip across Europe. Horses also resonate with Husain's admiration for Ancient Greece, a civilization that championed and deified the equestrian form. The Trojan Horse, Pegasus and Alexander's prized Bucephalus are only a few iconic stallions that permeate the mythological and historical past of hallowed antiquity. As a filmmaker, it is also likely that Husain was inspired by Eadweard Muybridge’s iconic short film, The Horse in Motion.
The present lot, a masterful monochromatic depiction of a single horse, illustrates the significant influence of the aforementioned Chinese works of art and artists on Husain’s work, which lasted several decades after his first visit to the country as a delegate to the World Peace Congress in Beijing in 1952. In its subject and technique, this painting offers a particularly clear nod to the artist Xu Beihong, whose impressive range of lively equestrian ink paintings led Husain to bolster his own depictions of the animal with a new sense of energy and motion. “Inspired by Xu Beihong, Husain infused his horses with a new vigor, an enlivened energy of movement combining dragon-like elements of masculinity with feminine grace. Husain had found a way to transform the spiritual force of the Duldul horse of his childhood into an expressive form that would impart a new life to the horses of his canvases” (S. Bean, ‘East Meets East in Husain’s Horses’, Lightning by M.F. Husain, New York, 2019, p. 43).
Akin to many of Beihong’s galloping horses, Husain has depicted this horse using a three-quarter view, which highlights both the front and the muscular flank of the animal. Its head is turned back, facing the opposite direction of its apparent motion, which conveys a sense of contrast, liveliness, and conflict. In this work, Husain departs from the vibrant palette and decisive linework, for which he is most well-known, to create a unique portrayal paying tribute to artistic traditions from East Asia. The artist uses splashed ink and free-hand brush strokes to depict shape and shadow, leaving the canvas white to highlight his forms and express the unrestrained vitality and magnificence of his subject.