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Lot Essay
Husain's first and meeting with Mother Teresa made a tremendous impact that is manifested in the numerous paintings he has done with her as the central subject. The first of these was painted in 1980. "Husain collected the inky darkness of obscurity into the folds of white clothes and created a metaphor by infusing his feelings of deep reverence into the image created." (Rashda Siddiqui, In Conversation with Husain Paintings, New Delhi, 2001, p. 204.)
While often depicted as a faceless entity, the series conjures notions not only of the historical Mother Teresa but of motherhood in general from the Virgin Mary to Husain's own mother who died when he was very young. Husain borrows elements from Renaissance painting and sculpture in his composition, which mirrors the iconography of Michelangelo's Pieta, where the child lies across the lap of Mother Teresa, akin to the body of Christ in the arms of the Virgin Mary.
While often depicted as a faceless entity, the series conjures notions not only of the historical Mother Teresa but of motherhood in general from the Virgin Mary to Husain's own mother who died when he was very young. Husain borrows elements from Renaissance painting and sculpture in his composition, which mirrors the iconography of Michelangelo's Pieta, where the child lies across the lap of Mother Teresa, akin to the body of Christ in the arms of the Virgin Mary.