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Lot 102

 

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In the 1950s and 1960s, Husain began painting canvasses with a single, faceless woman against a muted background. The present lot, painted in 1967, is a vertical composition composed of just three elements: a large black sun, a seated woman without any facial features, and a lantern in her lap. The background offers no clues to either place or time. During this period, Husain's "figures suddenly became anonymous. They existed on the picture... In the 1950s and 1960s, Husain began painting canvasses with a single, faceless woman against a muted background. The present lot, painted in 1967, is a vertical composition composed of just three elements: a large black sun, a seated woman without any facial features, and a lantern in her lap. The background offers no clues to either place or time. During this period, Husain's "figures suddenly became anonymous. They existed on the picture plane without any specific locale or identity. They possessed a static poise..." (Geeta Kapur, Husain, Bombay: Vakil & Sons Private Ltd., p. 4)

The most striking aspect of the present lot is the overpowering black disc with a sliver cut out of it. The black sun was a critical feature in the aesthetic language of some members of the Progressive Artists' Group, including Husain. Geeta Kapur observes that in Husain's paintings, the black sun was "a device for balancing empty space." Dyaneshwar Nadkarni, however, notes that it has symbolic relevance beyond its compositional merits. "The world that he creates, while capable of gay outbursts, tends to be a brooding, inward, world, lit by a haunting-black sun... His quest in his work is already becoming a mysterious and lonely poetry. The icons of his expression, which were derived from folk art in his earlier paintings, now move between the personal and the archetypal." (Dyaneshwar Nadkarni, Husain: Riding the Lightning, Mumbai: Popular Prakashan Pvt. Ltd., 1996, p. 82) In the present lot, the black sun both, balances the composition and supplies an emotional energy to the canvas, suggesting a sense of unease and disquiet.

The woman continues to be enigmatic. Neither her clothing nor her face offer any clues about her. "Husain's women, far from arousing passion, are ascetic without any of the abundant sexuality found in Indian sculptures. It is almost as if he strips the sculptures of all exterior embellishments to arrive at their basic sense of movement. Husain's women are always enshrouded in an invisible veil, the simplicity of their form countered by their inaccessibility. They could well be women from his own childhood..." (Yashodhara Dalmia, The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 101, 110). Like all of Husain's art, the present lot, even without many specifics, is deeply rooted in Indian art and culture. "Husain's paintings finally create a closed world, a picture which is in the nature of a book that carries its interest with it wheverever it goes." (Nadkarni, p. 115) Painted in his distinct style, Husain presents a canvas which is intriguing and offers multiple interpretive narratives.

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