Maqbool Fida Husain

Acquired by the current owner from Pundole Gallery in circa 1979

This work has been recently lightly cleaned. In good condition, as viewed.
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In this painting, Husain demonstrates his inclination towards making sense of the world around him. The outline of the male figure (depicted on the right), occurs repeatedly throughout his paintings in the late sixties and early seventies, and denotes the dual aspect of identity. As Daniel Herwitz aptly remarks, 'These stylistic continuities play a crucial role in accounting for its identity...Husain's is a search for himself, but also for the resources and style with which to voice his subject: India. The vissitudes of his work are those of himself and of India itself. His task of being contemporary to India...is one demanding a plasticity of the canvas open to the plasticity of its subject. (Daniel Herwitz, Husain, Bombay, 1988, p. 28)

Painted in a cubist manner reminiscent of Picasso, 'Strong angular lines and flatly applied patches of colour are the instrument of the female form.' (ibid, p. 46) His faceless, often veiled figures rendered with rich colours are 'expressive of a deep inner unrest.' (Richard Bartholomew and Shiv. S. Kapur, Husain, New York, 1972, p.43) The distinct featureless quality of Husain's women alludes perhaps to an overarching feminine or mother principle as he was burdened by the early loss of his mother and his subsequent inability to recall her face. Husain's treatment of women throughout his career reveals a mixture of tenderness, nostalgia and reverence. It is possible that that this painting is a literal depiction of Husain's strife to better understand himself and the woman that has always eluded him.