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Lot Essay
“Always it has seemed to me, that, to you, space was colour and colour was space, that space was unlimited, and that the space within the space, where you wanted to put an image could be invented at will. The woman speaking in profile, or with three-fourths face, flat feet and open hands, the bird’s cage before her, was from your Grant Road cosmos. Then, you did a whole long strip called ‘Earth’ and put into it man and women and bulls and birds and flowers, who all looked as though they had sprung from the Indian mud, all part of life, instinct with the quick, prevalent as at the beginning of creation” (M.R. Anand, Poetry to be Seen, Homage to Husain by Mulk Raj Anand, Hyderabad, 2006).
In the 1950s and 60s, Maqbool Fida Husain embarked on several trips around India, notably through the colorful countrysides of Rajasthan and Kerala. He was heavily inspired by rural life, which he idealized in his work as being closest to the essence of Indian sensibility and the foundation of the new nation. Building upon the themes he began to explore in the 1950s, the present work moves beyond expression of sentiment to show Husain’s admiration for women as the foundation of society and leaders of village and home affairs.
Here, the artist portrays two traditionally attired women in animated conversation, seated next to a sacred tulsi or holy basil plant, common to the courtyard of many conventional Indian homes. Believed to be a manifestation of the Goddess Tulasi, women would water and care for the aromatic plant every morning in its typical square, pillar-like pot. This ritual would ensure their families benefited from both its religious and medicinal value, remaining prosperous and healthy, a practice also documented in many Indian court paintings.
Through the two figures in this painting, Husain also underlines his admiration for women at all levels of society. Frequently prevailing over domestic and public affairs in rural India, both sacred and secular, these subjects offer an intimate portrayal of female friendship, strength, protection and guidance. One of the experiences that led the artist to such portrayals was the early loss of his mother, when he was too young to remember her face. In paintings like the present lot, Husain gives his mother form in the figure of a strong woman guiding and caring for others and celebrates the universal notion of motherhood.
In the 1950s and 60s, Maqbool Fida Husain embarked on several trips around India, notably through the colorful countrysides of Rajasthan and Kerala. He was heavily inspired by rural life, which he idealized in his work as being closest to the essence of Indian sensibility and the foundation of the new nation. Building upon the themes he began to explore in the 1950s, the present work moves beyond expression of sentiment to show Husain’s admiration for women as the foundation of society and leaders of village and home affairs.
Here, the artist portrays two traditionally attired women in animated conversation, seated next to a sacred tulsi or holy basil plant, common to the courtyard of many conventional Indian homes. Believed to be a manifestation of the Goddess Tulasi, women would water and care for the aromatic plant every morning in its typical square, pillar-like pot. This ritual would ensure their families benefited from both its religious and medicinal value, remaining prosperous and healthy, a practice also documented in many Indian court paintings.
Through the two figures in this painting, Husain also underlines his admiration for women at all levels of society. Frequently prevailing over domestic and public affairs in rural India, both sacred and secular, these subjects offer an intimate portrayal of female friendship, strength, protection and guidance. One of the experiences that led the artist to such portrayals was the early loss of his mother, when he was too young to remember her face. In paintings like the present lot, Husain gives his mother form in the figure of a strong woman guiding and caring for others and celebrates the universal notion of motherhood.