Maqbool Fida Husain (1913 - 2011)

Acquired in Bombay circa 1960s by Mrs. Priti Currimbhoy (née Misra), founder of the Taj art gallery and Dr. Angelo Tealdo, Managing Director of Ceat Tyres
Thence by descent

Good overall condition. Minor pigment loss at top center. Pinhole indentation to top right portion of tree. Scratches within blue pigment at bottom of the painting are visible in the catalog illustration and possibly inherent to the work.
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In 1948, Maqbool Fida Husain visited an exhibition in New Delhi where he was exposed to Gupta sculpture as well as traditional miniature painting from the Rajput and Pahari courts. These older artistic practices served as an inspiration for his future paintings. The bright colors in this work are reminiscent of those miniatures and serve to affect the mood of the painting. This composition, in particular Husain’s rendition of the woman’s body relates to classical sculpture. In early temples, fertility Goddesses or yakshis are depicted beneath flowering trees, with their hand towards the tree and a raised foot, as in the case of this beautiful modern rendition. Using the palette of Indian miniatures and forms from traditional sculpture, Husain has adopted these two elements and then re-worked them into a formula that is uniquely his own. S. Kapur has written of Husain’s work at the time, ‘A taught discipline binds everything; feeling with its distilled rendering, the line with its colour, space with its severely controlled use. Every stroke of that swift and nervous brush is made to count. There is utmost economy in Husain’s compositions, and therefore strength. Objects are given significance beyond their concrete reality. A tree becomes all crystal-green leaf, all leafiness in rich applications of colour. There are geometric designs. […] Some of Husain’s symbols are drawn from folk art and are traditional. His manner of using them, however, while retaining the original impulse, takes them much beyond their original simple meanings. […] Intellect is at the centre of Husain’s art. In all that he paints reality has a fugitive quality because it comes finally from the mind. As a consequence, his figures are stylised. Forms are not represented, they are rebuilt.’         (S. Kapur, Husain, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, pp. vi-vii)