Maqbool Fida Husain

Acquired in India by Gordon B. Lankton, circa 1960s

Thence by descent 

Cobbs Auctioneers, New Hampshire, Important Fine Art and Antiques Auction, 30 April 2022, lot 101  

Gordon B. Lankton (1932-2021), Plastics Entrepreneur, Museum Founder, and Key-Holder to the Town of Clinton, Massachusetts was an example of a true American business success story. He is known for his work at Nypro Products Corporation, building the company from a small start-up into one of the largest international plastics manufacturing companies. He was instrumental in establishing a dozen plants in the United States, and manufacturing facilities in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Ireland, Wales, Germany, Russia, China, India, Singapore, Mexico and the Philippines.

Gordon was a passionate collector and philanthropist. His collecting interests spanned from Russian icons, African sculpture, to World War I and II posters and die-cast model cars. After he retired from Nypro, Gordon founded the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, Massachusetts, which is thought to have the largest collection of Russian icons outside Russia. 

Gordon first traveled to India in 1957, followed by further trips in the 1960s. It was during one of these trips that he purchased the current Husain painting.

‘[Maqbool Fida Husain] reacted almost instantaneously to events and things… was mesmerized by the ancient traditions of Indian dance and music, painted singers and dancers, responding to the syncretic customs that had made the subcontinent a cradle of spirituality. He was, first and foremost, Indian, rejecting the call and lure of other lands when his peers were settling in London and Paris, New York and Copenhagen.’ (K. Singh, M.F. Husain: The Journey of a Legend, Stellar International Art Foundation, Geneva, 2014, p. 20-21)

In the present work, we glimpse a charming conversation between a musician and her instrument, the sitar. The toomba resting gently on her lap, the musician looks at her finger placement on the dandi, perhaps moments before she starts to play. In succinct strokes of pink, green and beige hues, the musician appears partially illuminated, with a soft light focused on her sitar, face and hands. Husain’s distinctly rich tones and sensuous impasto lend a graceful naturality to the painting and capture the intimacy and familiarity of the musician with her instrument. The woman is depicted nude, but as in Husain’s other depictions of the female form, she is not sexualized. Her body is represented in harmony with the sitar that rests upon her. 

With profound sensitivity, Husain dedicates this canvas to the lyricism unique to Indian music and the innate beauty of woman.