Important Notice

M F Husain’s iconic horses began with a series of early personal encounters. The preoccupation evolved as he grew as an artist to give birth to a layered motif that encompassed a wide range of allusions. He was first transfixed by the equine form on encountering the regal horses belonging to the Holkar king. Duldul, effigies of which he saw in Muharram processions in his hometown, was formative to his understanding of the horse and showed up in... M F Husain’s iconic horses began with a series of early personal encounters. The preoccupation evolved as he grew as an artist to give birth to a layered motif that encompassed a wide range of allusions. He was first transfixed by the equine form on encountering the regal horses belonging to the Holkar king. Duldul, effigies of which he saw in Muharram processions in his hometown, was formative to his understanding of the horse and showed up in his works as an adult. His travels brought him new influences like the Bankura horse and Italian sculpture. “Later, in Europe, where as he found the Renaissance horses unexciting, he was strongly attracted by Franz Marc’s work and Marino Marini’s archaic equestrian sculpture, with its balance between horizontal and vertical lines to achieve a feeling of solitary and monumental anguish. Husain’s own use of the horse motif has been, however, more intuitive and complex...” (Richard Bartholomew and Shiv S Kapur, Husain, Hyderabad: Cinema Ghar, 2006, p. 39)

Husain’s encounter with Chinese artist Xu Beihong’s painting of a thousand horses in 1950 markedly changed the nature of his horses. “Xu’s horses were in motion; they galloped, reared, and snorted. Inspired by Xu Beihong, Husain infused his horses with a new vigor, an enlivened energy of movement combining dragon-like elements of masculinity with feminine grace.” (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. 43)

Husain’s horses were changed with every prominent encounter to end up as the iconic forms we now associate with the artist. The ears of the Bankura horse and Beihong’s charged lines come together to generate a form that is more than the sum of its whole, a timeless creature that recalls everything from Ashwamedha to the horse cart on the street. In the words of the artist, “Art has to evolve from your very being, like my horses... I see them as ageless and immortal. They draw chariots in the great epics, they stand proudly in the poorest stables, they are embodiments of strength like the dragons of China.” (Artist quoted in M F Husain with Khalid Mohammed, Where Art Thou, Mumbai: M F Husain Foundation with Pundole Art Gallery, 2002, pp. xx-xxii)

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