Maqbool Fida Husain

Acquired directly from the artist, Tokyo, circa early 1960s

Thence by descent

Lots 141 and 143 were acquired while the artist was in Tokyo for an exhibition of his works circa early 1960s. He stayed with a local family and required a loan to cover his traveling expenses and to purchase art materials in Japan. In return, Husain left the family two paintings and said he would return for them one day and pay back the loan. In the end, Husain did not return and the paintings have remained in the same family collection ever since. 

Maqbool Fida Husain was a master at revolutionizing the Indian art aesthetic. The years between 1956 to 1961 were a period of great success, resulting in extensive travel and international exhibitions, and his paintings around this time reflected what he learned and saw on his travels to the east. In 1959, he received the International Biennale award in Tokyo. The muted colors and bronze undertones in the paintings of his later 50s and early 60s works indicate that he had been inspired by Japanese screen painting. Although limited in palette, these works contained a multitude of themes, including animals, bathers, lovers, dancers, musicians and nudes. 

Lots 141 and 143, executed circa 1961, were acquired were acquired in Japan directly from Husain. Their vertical, split format, a preferred compositional technique of Husain during this period, reveal strikingly complementary subjects. Lot 141 depicts a musician above which a herd of cows jostles. Lot 143 shows a female nude and donkey, with a rural, verdant scene in the upper section of the painting. These lots reveal an array of influences: the elongated space of the canvas perhaps attributable to the inspiration Husain found in Chinese ink scroll paintings, and the use of a high horizon line and flattened perspective reminiscent of the compositions of Indian miniature painting. The nude evokes the tribhanga postures of classical sculpture while the tight overlapping forms of the cows and trees in the compositions are reminiscent of the frieze panels of North Indian temples.

This melding pot of influences coalesce to create two perfectly-constructed compositions. The paintings portray many of the artist’s most favored themes, and are executed with the confident brushwork and unique stylization which defined Husain’s celebrated artistic production.