Farmer's family

The Farmer's Family is an image that has been part of Husain's visual vocabulary for the last four decades. As Alkazi states, "With each theme is identified a particular style and spatial treatment, so that even though he may hark back to it after a break of years, he manages to retain its consistency." (M.F. Husain, The Modern Artist and Tradition, E. Alkazi, New Delhi, p. 7.) The farmer's family embodies the typical Indian family as it represents the faceless millions whose existence is linked to the land. Husain "has been unique in his ability to forge a pictorial language which is indisputably of the contemporary Indian situation but surcharged with all the energies, the rhythms of his art heritage." (ibid, p. 3.) He is drawn to images that capture the essence of Indian life, be it in either urban or rural settings. "He painted with the same visceral truthfulness and sense of commitment as the woman grinding corn, the potter at his wheel and the same lack of pretension." (ibid, p. 4.) The family is depicted with a ubiquitous grace and a distinct aura of "stoic patience".

For the earlier work entitled Farmer's Family (1960), please see the exhibition catalogue for the inaugural show of the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai entitled, The Moderns'. (National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, 1996, p. 9.)