Maqbool Fida Husain

Acquired from Galerie Jourdan, Montreal, 1981

“A deep humanism, a concern for fellow human beings, runs through [my family’s] veins. My faith rests on this compassion for others, which we Indians possess.” (M.F. Husain quoted in I. Pal, Husain: Portrait of an Artist, HarperCollins Publishers, Noida, 2017, p. 30)

Though Maqbool Fida Husain is known for his depiction of women and Indian mythology, Husain was truly interested in his fellow man and had a genuine respect for all religions and cultures. Abraham, a rare portrayal of a Judeo-Christian figure in Husain’s oeuvre, reveals the artist’s interest in all that makes up his Indianness, including his own background as a Muslim. Abraham, or Ibrahim in Islam, is known as the father of monotheism and the patriarch of Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions. His primary teaching was the existence of one god who cannot be seen. Religious texts including the biblical book of Genesis recount Abraham’s life story and the religious commandments he fulfilled such as performing circumcision and the birth of his son, Isaac.

Husain depicts Abraham with a gray beard and taqiyah (skullcap), draped in a white shawl around his shoulders which blends into the black background. His left arm shows through the cloudy composition to rest on an exposed right leg. Sitting cross-legged, Abraham’s head floats beneath an inscription in Arabic which reads, ‘Ibrahim.’ This block lettering is uncommon in Husain’s work, opting more towards a visual language of symbols and figures rather than words. A lamb rests peacefully among the scene, above which a yellow hand with a pointed finger gestures upwards. Abraham offers viewers a quiet moment with one of the most storied mortals, a humble and exquisitely balanced composition of color, shadow and line.