Maqbool Fida Husain

By the 1950s, Maqbool Fida Husain had begun to focus his attention on the depiction of the rural idyll and its people. This desire to represent a pastoral utopia was in part due to a 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 new independent nation. Husain’s indigenous peasants with their dark, calloused skin signified the daily grind of the working classes that surrounded him.

He has used a mosaic like approach in his application of paint, with multiple patches of orange brown earthy tones to emphasise the boy's multi-faceted skin tone and vibrant blues for the sky in the background. With a carefully selected palette, Husain is celebrating his homeland, incorporating his preoccupation with the working class and nature, and exhibiting the joy of painting.

"There is an exalted dignity about the people who inhabit Husain's canvases. Peasants, workers, craftsmen, women toiling in fields or huddled together in conversation all have self-contained poise, the stoic patience and grace associated with the common people. He captures their postures and lineaments their distinctive ethos and culture... not by physiognomy or costume alone are they differentiated, but in their total bearing and presence."

(E. Alkazi, M.F. Husain: The Modern Artist and Tradition, New Delhi, 1978, p. 22).