Untitled

Compare the treatment of colonial India in this work with similar paintings illustrated in the Tata monograph on Husain (Russi Mody, Husain, Mumbai, 1988, p. 259 & 271-2 (illustrated). In the 1980s Husain worked on a series of paintings on the British in India. Elements of history and sometimes satire come together in these works to present a witty commentary on the effects of the Raj. Opposition is felt in the dynamic between the main subjects of the painting, 'each subtly absorbing the identity of the other and each equally subtly resisting that absorption.' (D. Herwitz, Husain, 1988, p. 19.)