Maqbool Fida Husain (1915-2011)

Very good overall condition. Impasto richer than viewed in catalogue illustration. Grays and beige colors in the figure somewhat oversaturated in catalogue illustration.
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Throughout his life, Husain created a great number of portraits—of close friends and family, and historical and political figures, amongst others. Due to their highly personal nature, portraits such as these rarely appear on the market. The current work, believed to be a portrait of Husain's late friend Dr. A. Rahman, an Indian biochemist from the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) in Mysore, is highly unusual for its subdued palette and semi-abstracted features, and captures a unique snapshot in the development of Husain as an artist.

During the years 1962—1965, Husain experienced the dual shocks of the outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani war, as well as an emotionally charged visit to Karbala in Iraq, the site of the legendary martyrdom of Imam Husain. Many of the works created in the early 1960s, such as the current work from 1965, are imbued with a deeply personal and highly introspective timbre.  

Shiv Kapur elaborates: "Husain's paintings [from 1962-1965] reveal an almost prophetic foreshadowing of his climactic emotional experiences. There is in them a clear mark of deepening spiritual unrest ... His figures are frequently distorted or metamorphosed; his animal symbolism acquired a darkly menacing aspect. The darker works are, however, at the center of his artistic experience during this period; in expressions of cosmic anxiety they represent most closely his exploration of the nature of being," (Bartholomew and Kapur, Husain, New York, 1972, pp. 41-42).  

A comparison of paintings from the same time period reveals the depth in the inner workings of the artist. Not all of Husain's works from this time period express the shadow elements of Husain's cosmic anxiety and spiritual confusion. During the early 1960s, Husain traveled widely in northern India, and began to work on his film, Through the Eyes of a Painter; he also created works from the celebrated Rajasthan series (see lot 30, Vue d'Udaipur, 1962) at the same time, both aesthetic counterpoints to the current work and others from this period.