Portrait of an Umbrella - Two

Husain began this series in the 1970s and continued working on it through the next decade. For him the umbrella is a metaphor for the common man. "It, like them, is common and close to hand yet equally unnoticed and unportrayed. The umbrella is the centerpiece, the multitude, yet each person alone." (As told to Daniel Herwitz, Husain, Mumbai, 1988, p. 28.)