Maqbool Fida Husain (b. 1915)

Purchased by the current owner in March 1970

Minor loss of paint, upper left corner of painting, visible in catalogue illustration. Overall very good condition. Colors slightly brighter and fresher 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).

The composition of the current work is based on a scene that is frequently depicted in both the folk and classical miniature tradition.  The work depicts Krishna hiding in a tree having stolen clothes from his devoted gopis whilst they bathe in a river.  The fervent devotion to Krishna of the celebrated milk-maids (Gopis) of Brindavan is related as an example of bhakti (Devotion through Love). There are numerous representations of this bhakti in painting and sculpture throughout India. An early example of the scene from the dispersed "Isarda" Bhagavata Purana is part of the Metropolitan Museum's collection and dates to c. 1560. Possibly the first poetic expression of the Radha Krishna story was in the Gita-Govinda of Jayadeva (12^th century A.D.).  The poem is at the very center of religious poetry in the Bhakti tradition and has inspired artists and devotees ever since.

Yashodhara Dalmia summarizes Husain's use of the ancient epics 'in the epics the gods stood for immanent energies and were always represented symbolically, imbued as they were with a universal significance. Husain, under modernism, empowered them with a symbolic presence while contextualizing them in the contemporary, thereby layering their forms with multiple meanings...  Henceforth, the iconic was to be assimilated in contemporary art and was to become the purveyor of everyday life with all its conflicts and unresolved dilemmas.' (Yashodhara Dalmia, The Making of Modern Indian Art the Progressives, New Delhi, 2001, p. 114).