Important Notice

"I am aware
of cracks in Rembrandt,
whose browns burn in me.

I tremble not,
though
rock-rust boots
are ditched deep.

But
the silky sun
afloat on Turner
shrills me."
- M F HUSAIN

The present lot, an enigmatic landscape painted in 1970, was likely inspired by Husain's visit to Egypt and the Middle East in the 1950s. Depicting a single palm tree in the foreground... "I am aware
of cracks in Rembrandt,
whose browns burn in me.

I tremble not,
though
rock-rust boots
are ditched deep.

But
the silky sun
afloat on Turner
shrills me."
- M F HUSAIN

The present lot, an enigmatic landscape painted in 1970, was likely inspired by Husain's visit to Egypt and the Middle East in the 1950s. Depicting a single palm tree in the foreground against the backdrop of a pyramid amid golden sands, the painting is suffused with warm yellow, brown and rust hues to evoke the sultry heat of the desert. In its composition and colour palette, it continues Husain's preoccupation with the desert landscape that began in the previous decade after he embarked on a tour of Rajasthan, painting and drawing his way through the forts and desert towns of Bundi, Udaipur, Jaisalmer and Chittor, among others.

Similar to those works, Husain absorbs the colour and atmosphere of the Egyptian desert in the present lot through specific illustrations of its local ecosystem and architecture. In doing so, he presents what is unmistakeably a view of an Egyptian landscape, demonstrating his masterful capacity to capture the essence of a place. "He views each painting as a fragment of music whose counterpoint exists elsewhere, and his entire painterly activity as one immense effort at orchestration of all the notes that he hears... No painting is intended as a complete statement... While time as the immediate, here-andnow communication of sensation may be abstracted from Husain's paintings, his forms and colours thus remain alive with energy." (Richard Bartholomew and Shiv S Kapur, Husain, New York: Harry N Abrams, Inc., 1971, p. 60)

This painting is part of a brief, but brilliant period of experimentation in Husain's career when he was producing semi-abstracted landscapes inspired by his travels across the country to Benaras (lot 30), Rajasthan and Kerala, among other locations. His primary concern lay in exploring the visual and physical abilities of paint itself, while achieving a connection between "form and feeling." (Bartholomew and Kapur, p. 46) In these works, he never fully departs from the figurative element, often merging the figure with the landscape in a way "where the human beings take on the contours of rugged hills, rural hamlets, and incorporate in their own shapes the flora and fauna of the countryside." (Ebrahim Alkazi, M F Husain: The Modern Artist and Tradition, New Delhi: Art Heritage, 1978, p. 4)

DR HOMI BHABHA (19091966)

The present lot was once part of the collection of Dr Homi Bhabha, India's foremost nuclear physicist, founding director of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), and a wellknown patron of the arts. The Nobel prize nominee was the principal architect of India's nuclear energy programme--colloquially deemed as its "father"--and the key figure in setting its course in scientific and policy matters.

Born into a rich, Parsi family in then Bombay in 1909, Dr Bhabha grew up to study engineering at Cambridge, England at his father's behest, but turned to physics after he developed a strong interest in the subject. He soon joined the Cavendish Laboratory, and obtained his doctorate by 1935. Four years later, when World War II broke out, Dr Bhabha was in India on holiday and--at the invitation of Professor C V Raman, director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore--decided to stay on as a reader at the institute. In the next five years, Dr Bhabha had recognised the need for a superior research centre for the development of nuclear energy and industrial growth of the country, and written a proposal to his friend J R D Tata to acquire funds for this project. Subsequently, the TIFR was set up in May 1945 with Dr Bhabha at its director, a position he held until his death in 1966.

During this time, Dr Bhabha was instrumental in founding the Atomic Energy Establishment in Trombay, later renamed Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi after his death. His contribution to the development of atomic energy brought him significant recognition in international scientific circles, leading him to serve as the president of the United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in 1955 and as president of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics from 1960-1963.

Apart from his pioneering lifework in nuclear physics, Dr Bhabha equally maintained a wellrounded enthusiasm for arts and culture--Professor Raman once described him as "the modern equivalent of Leonardo da Vinci." Growing up in an environment where interests in music, art and literature were commonly cultivated habits, Dr Bhabha enjoyed and had access to his grandfather's vast library, his father's impressive collection of books on art and music, and the family's extensive selection of Western classical music gramophone records--which Dr Bhabha and his brother, Jamshed, listened to for hours in their childhood.

Dr Bhabha's passion for the arts perhaps rivalled his passion for science. A talented artist himself, he won several prizes at the Bombay Art Society exhibitions at a young age. This artistic passion would only grow as he moved to Cambridge and was exposed to museums and concerts; he even designed the stage decor for Calderon's play Life is a Dream, Handel's Susanah, and Mozart's opera Idomeno.

In his lifetime, Dr Bhabha collected several works by noted Indian artists, and even maintained close friendships with them. Some of these works became part of the TIFR art collection, while those from his personal collection--such as the present lot--were left to his brother, who in turn bequeathed them to the NCPA and were sold in auction in 2011. As his brother Jamshed as said, "For Homi Bhabha, the arts were not just a form of recreation or pleasant relaxation; they were among the most serious pursuits of life and he attached just as much importance to them as to his work in mathematics and physics. For him, the arts were, in his own words, 'what made life worth living'." ("Homi Bhabha and the TIFR Art Collection," Google Arts and Culture, online)

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