Important Notice

On several occasions, Husain had adopted classical Indian aesthetics as a substrate to construct images. Since the late 1940s, when he visited an exhibition of traditional Indian art and craft at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, he had painted works related to classical Indian sculpture, music, and dance. The artist sought to relate the aesthetics of modern art with the movements of classical Indian dance, the sounds of different ragas, and the... On several occasions, Husain had adopted classical Indian aesthetics as a substrate to construct images. Since the late 1940s, when he visited an exhibition of traditional Indian art and craft at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, he had painted works related to classical Indian sculpture, music, and dance. The artist sought to relate the aesthetics of modern art with the movements of classical Indian dance, the sounds of different ragas, and the sculpted sensuality of temple carvings in these paintings.

He first painted the ragamala series in the 1960s. In Indian classical music, a raga is a melody that uses a combination of musical notes. The Ragamala constitutes the entire gamut of ragas to be found in classical music. The present lot shows Husain's continued love affair with Indian music into the '80s. He was an avid follower of Indian classical music and had been to many performances in the 1980s. In this work, he pays a double homage by depicting a musician, and a woman. His preoccupation with the form is evident in the way he has rendered the figure-he shows her head inclined, deeply absorbed in the melody of her music.

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