Maqbool Fida Husain (1913 - 2011)

Acquired by Sri Thigyal Lakar from a friend of the royal family in Bhutan

This work has recently been stretched. Craquelure at bottom edge of painting. Scratches at bottom left corner are possibly inherent to the work.
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‘If Kashmir is all about men and mountains then Kerala is all about women and nature’

                                                                                                             -       Maqbool Fida Husain

Unlike his contemporaries who often focused on the urban situation, Maqbool Fida Husain looked towards pastoral life in India for inspiration. In the late 1950s and 1960s, Husain worked on a series of works that drew inspiration and created a series of works in the late 1950s and early 1960s based on this subject. He placed an importance on nature and in particular the depiction of a rural utopia. This was driven by a post-Independence concern with finding a new national identity. The virtues and values of the masses were regarded as the backbone of the new independent nation. 'Most artists have been attracted at one time or other to the charm and colour of the Indian countryside and drawn inspiration from it. Few have brought to it the poetic lyricism which Husain has.' (E. Alkazi, M.F. Husain: The Modern Artist & Tradition, Art Heritage, New Delhi, 1978, pp.13-14)

This charming painting depicts a svelte woman amidst luxurious green vegetation, flanked on her left by a coconut tree. ‘Around the end of 1967 he [Husain] visited Kerala. With its ancient matriarchal society, staunch Dravidian faces, and simple fisherfolk, with its lush vegetation and sun, sand, and sea, this southwestern extremity of India beckoned to him as an idyll of contained form and emotion.’ (R. Bartholomew and S. Kapur, Maqbool Fida Husain, Harry N. Abrams Ltd., New York, 1972, p. 55). The present work, painted only a year after Husain was documented to have visited Kerala, contains all these elements that he had found so captivating; the dark-skinned nubile woman signifiying the matriarch and the tropical foliage and tranquil setting. He has used a mosaic like approach in his application of paint, with multiple patches of reddish brown earthy tones to emphasise the woman’s multi-faceted skin tone and vibrant greens for the verdant undergrowth. With a carefully selected palette, Husain is celebrating the nostalgia he felt for this beautiful place, incorporating his preoccupation with women and nature and highlighting his joy in this poignant painting.