Maqbool Fida Husain (b. 1915)

Small tear in lower left area which has been repaired and patched from reverse. Hairline cracks in white colour along gate. Faint impression of stitches visible in yellow sun. Slightly loose in top right corner. Overall good condition. Colours brighter than in catalogue illustration.
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Husain was different from his contemporaries F.N. Souza and S.H. Raza in choosing to remain in India. Even so he traveled widely within the subcontinent, from the Himalayas to Kerala, to experience the landscape and various cultures of India first-hand. During his travels he was attracted to the varying landscapes of India, the different peoples he encountered and the stories and artistic traditions that they had inherited. 'He drew from the classical, the miniature and folk and attempted to meld it into a language which formulated the present.  It allowed him to express a perceived reality which while being seamless, mythical and vast was at the same time hurling towards industrialization and modernization.' (Yashodhara Dalmia, "M. F. Husain: Reinventing India," introductory essay to M. F. Husain, Early Masterpieces 1950s - 70s, Asia House, London, 2006).

Although the landscape of India is a common subject for Husain, landscapes devoid of figures are exceptionally rare and Peeli Dhoop or 'Yellow Sunshine' belongs to a small group of such paintings that Husain created in 1964, that also includes Chittore Fort and Red Desert.  The appearance of this group of semi-abstract landscapes at this stage in his career is interesting for it was a period when his paintings came under increased scrutiny from his critics. Many felt that his obstinate reluctance to move away from figurative painting was limiting his scope and standing as a true artist of the modernist movement. This small group of  more abstracted  paintings may have represented in his own mind an answer to his critics, for they demonstrate his skill as a colorist and can be more closely compared to the 1950s landscapes of Raza, who by the early 1960s was coming to be recognized as one of the leading abstract artists of India. However, unlike Raza whose works became increasingly abstract and gestural, Husain soon reverted to his interest in the human figure.