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拍品專文
The portrayal of the feminine is an integral part of Maqbool Fida Husain’s compositions. The female figure in Husain’s work is often influenced by classical Indian sculpture, yet remains characterized by the artist’s instantly recognizable, angular lines and bold palette. Deeply affected by the death of his mother Zainab when he was less than two years old, Husain often used the female figure in his work to symbolize maternal compassion and altruism. However, he almost always painted them without distinct facial features as he was unable to remember those of his mother. “Husain’s women are always enshrouded in an invisible veil, the simplicity of their form countered by their inaccessibility” (Y. Dalmia, The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, New Delhi, 2001, p. 111).
In the present lot, enigmatically titled What is One?, Husain constructs a captivating image, suggestive of both maternal intimacy and the grander passage of time. Here, the artist’s bold lines become softer while his application of paint becomes more gestural, giving the two kneeling female figures he portrays an almost sculptural presence against the spare background. On the left, an older woman seems to be attending to and advising the young woman by her side. Highlighted with a column of blue, Husain also accentuates the innocence and vulnerability of this girl through her nakedness, as she finds her place in the world and attempts to answer the question posed in the title of the painting with the help of her more experienced guardian.
This painting was first exhibited in Husain’s seminal 1959 solo show at Kumar Gallery, New Delhi. The only line of text on the brochure that accompanied this exhibition was a quote from Dylan Thomas’s poem ‘Fern Hill’, and simply read “Time held me green and dying”. Like the present lot, and several other paintings on display, this alluded to the irreversible progress of time, the innocence of youth, and the pain at its eventual loss.
Deeply rooted in an Indian vernacular, Husain’s visual vocabulary draws heavily from classical Sanskrit notions of aesthetics. He strongly believed that to understand how to paint, one must also comprehend form, movement and music. In the figures of the two women in this painting, viewers can trace the influence of classical Indian sculpture, the aesthetic relationships Husain drew between dance, sculpture and painting, and his interest in expressing posture and movement on canvas.
In the present lot, enigmatically titled What is One?, Husain constructs a captivating image, suggestive of both maternal intimacy and the grander passage of time. Here, the artist’s bold lines become softer while his application of paint becomes more gestural, giving the two kneeling female figures he portrays an almost sculptural presence against the spare background. On the left, an older woman seems to be attending to and advising the young woman by her side. Highlighted with a column of blue, Husain also accentuates the innocence and vulnerability of this girl through her nakedness, as she finds her place in the world and attempts to answer the question posed in the title of the painting with the help of her more experienced guardian.
This painting was first exhibited in Husain’s seminal 1959 solo show at Kumar Gallery, New Delhi. The only line of text on the brochure that accompanied this exhibition was a quote from Dylan Thomas’s poem ‘Fern Hill’, and simply read “Time held me green and dying”. Like the present lot, and several other paintings on display, this alluded to the irreversible progress of time, the innocence of youth, and the pain at its eventual loss.
Deeply rooted in an Indian vernacular, Husain’s visual vocabulary draws heavily from classical Sanskrit notions of aesthetics. He strongly believed that to understand how to paint, one must also comprehend form, movement and music. In the figures of the two women in this painting, viewers can trace the influence of classical Indian sculpture, the aesthetic relationships Husain drew between dance, sculpture and painting, and his interest in expressing posture and movement on canvas.