- 528
Maqbool Fida Husain
Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- Maqbool Fida Husain
- Blue Flower
- Signed in Devanagari upper right
- Oil on canvas
- 22 x 30 in. (59.9 x 76.3 cm.)
- Painted in 1969
Provenance
Acquired from Kumar Gallery, New Delhi
Exhibited
New Delhi, Kumar Gallery, Celebration, January 2007
New York, Rubin Museum of Art, Modernist Art from India: Approaching Abstraction, May- October 2012
New York, Rubin Museum of Art, Modernist Art from India: Approaching Abstraction, May- October 2012
Literature
S.K. Jain, Celebration, Kumar Gallery, New Delhi, 2007, illustration p. 20
B. Citron, Modernist Art from India, Rubin Museum of Art, illustration unpaginated
B. Citron, Modernist Art from India, Rubin Museum of Art, illustration unpaginated
Condition
There is very minor hairline craquelere confined to the upper right corner, visible only upon close inspection. This work is in overall excellent condition, as viewed. Three spots of orange in the work appear more saturated in the print catalog.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
Many of Husain's paintings in the 1950s and 1960s depicted the rural idyll of India and its people. The years following 1965 are known to have been very rewarding for Husain. In 1966, he finished his monumental mural in mosaic, 80 feet high and 40 feet wide, on the outer wall of Delhi's Indraprastha Building. That same year, he started work on his first experimental film, Through the Eyes of a Painter, a surrealistic painterly journey through the ancient towns of Rajasthan, for which he was awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1967.
Shiv S. Kapur enunciates “The special mark of these years of fulfillment stamps Husain’s other work. In painting after painting his colors shine out with an inner glow… His lines are quiet amid colors that have the design and luminosity of stained glass. The richness of this mystic illumination is reflected in his choice of colors: glowing blues, browns, and reds from the diagonal reaches of the spectrum, lit by patches of white, and with only one unquiet touch of yellow.” (R. Bartholomew, and S. Kapur, Husain, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, New York, 1971, p. 52). Kapur equates Husain’s emphasis on structure and composition in works from this period to the manner of Cézanne and Matisse. The luminosity achieved through the use of certain colors and the stained glass effect is discernible in this work.
Husain’s desire to represent a pastoral utopia was in part due to the post-Independence concern with striving for a new national identity. The virtues and values of the rural class were to become the backbone of the newly independent nation. During this period, the palette of his canvases was imbued with the colors of the Indian countryside. As E. Alkazi concludes “Most artists have been attracted at one time or other to the charm and color 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, p. 13-14)
Shiv S. Kapur enunciates “The special mark of these years of fulfillment stamps Husain’s other work. In painting after painting his colors shine out with an inner glow… His lines are quiet amid colors that have the design and luminosity of stained glass. The richness of this mystic illumination is reflected in his choice of colors: glowing blues, browns, and reds from the diagonal reaches of the spectrum, lit by patches of white, and with only one unquiet touch of yellow.” (R. Bartholomew, and S. Kapur, Husain, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, New York, 1971, p. 52). Kapur equates Husain’s emphasis on structure and composition in works from this period to the manner of Cézanne and Matisse. The luminosity achieved through the use of certain colors and the stained glass effect is discernible in this work.
Husain’s desire to represent a pastoral utopia was in part due to the post-Independence concern with striving for a new national identity. The virtues and values of the rural class were to become the backbone of the newly independent nation. During this period, the palette of his canvases was imbued with the colors of the Indian countryside. As E. Alkazi concludes “Most artists have been attracted at one time or other to the charm and color 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, p. 13-14)