Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art

Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 75. MAQBOOL FIDA HUSAIN | UNTITLED (FAMILY PORTRAIT).

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, PRAGUE

MAQBOOL FIDA HUSAIN | UNTITLED (FAMILY PORTRAIT)

Auction Closed

September 29, 03:32 PM GMT

Estimate

30,000 - 50,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, PRAGUE

MAQBOOL FIDA HUSAIN

1913 - 2011

UNTITLED (FAMILY PORTRAIT)


Oil on canvas

Signed and dated '1961 / Husain' lower right

85 x 122 cm. (33 ½ x 48 in.)

Painted in 1961

Gifted by the artist directly to the family as Husain lived with them for a short time in Prague

Thence by descent

Despite being best known for his depictions of the anonymous, nude female form, Maqbool Fida Husain, on occasion, honoured his close friends and their families with intimate portraits. The current lot is one such work and depicts Dr. Lubor Hájek (1921–2000), his wife Jarmila and daughter Kristýna. Dr Hájek was a Czech art historian, known for inaugurating the discipline of non-European art history in Czechoslovakia and founding the collection of Oriental Art at the National Gallery in Prague in 1952. Dr Hájek became the collection’s first Director, holding the position for 35 years. The collection comprises one of Europe’s largest assemblies of twentieth-century Chinese ink painting, an art form for which Dr Hájek and his friend Husain shared a profound interest.