Important Notice

The figure of the horse impressed itself upon M F Husain’s mind very early in life. His frequent childhood visits to the local farrier Acchan Mian gave him the opportunity to observe the majestic horses belonging to the erstwhile king of Indore, Yashwant Rao Holkar. He was also taken by the spectacle of annual Muharram processions through his hometown which heavily featured effigies of Duldul, the Prophet Muhammad’s cherished white horse who... The figure of the horse impressed itself upon M F Husain’s mind very early in life. His frequent childhood visits to the local farrier Acchan Mian gave him the opportunity to observe the majestic horses belonging to the erstwhile king of Indore, Yashwant Rao Holkar. He was also taken by the spectacle of annual Muharram processions through his hometown which heavily featured effigies of Duldul, the Prophet Muhammad’s cherished white horse who valiantly laid down her life in the Battle of Karbala. Husain was also exposed to Hindu mythology growing up and, as a result, was familiar with the legend of Ashwamedha. Travels early in his career widened his already diverse influences to include the Bankura horse, German Expressionism, Italian sculpture and the Chariot of the Sun God in Konark. The artist remarked on the wide-ranging antecedents to his horse, “My horses, like lightning, cut across many horizons… They hop around the spaces. From the battlefield of Karbala to Bankura terracotta, from the Chinese Tse Pei Hung horse to St. Marco horse, from ornate armoured Duldul to challenging white of Ashwamedh… the cavalcade of my horses is multidimensional.” (Artist quoted in Dr Daniel Herwitz, Husain, Bombay: Tata Press, 1988, p. 83)

In 1952, “he found what he was seeking-a means to imbue his horses with the expressive quality of line and form that matched his imagination” (Susan S Bean, “East Meets East in Husain’s Horses”, Lightning by M F Husain, New York: TamarindArt in association with Asia Society Museum New York and Mapin Publishing, 2019, p. 42) while visiting China as a delegate to the World Peace Congress. His meeting with Chinese artist Xu Beihong, known for the forceful figuration of his horses, was pivotal to his practice. A visit to his studio brought Husain face- to-face with Beihong’s painting of a thousand horses, whose vigour and movement had a great impact on him. Soon after this visit, Husain assimilated these traits into his own paintings of horses. This is evident in the present lot featuring many horses rearing and galloping, arresting the viewer with their intensity.

The artist uses bold lines to imbue these formidable figures with dynamism.

Speaking of the potency of Husain’s horses, art critic Richard Bartholomew described them as being “rampant or galloping; the manes, the fury, the working buttocks, the prancing legs, and the strong neighing heads with dilated nostrils are blocks of colour which are vivid or tactile or are propelled in their significant progression by strokes of the brush or sweeps of the palette knife. The activity depicted is transformed in the activity of paint... When we look at these creatures we must remember that the animal is not the subject of Husain’s painting; it is the daemonic principle that he depicts, and to him it is neither good nor bad... the horses... have become symbols of power and pursuit, or of mysterious encounters.” (Richard Bartholomew and Shiv S Kapur, Husain, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1972, p. 20)

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