Important Notice

"Husain's experience of India repeatedly tells him the epical and the mythic are also the experiential, the experiential is the religious... the religious is folkloric, the folkloric is highly adaptive, and it is truly popular and demonstrably contemporary." (Shyamal Bagchee, "Augmented Nationalism: The Nomadic Eye of Painter M F Husain," asianart.com, 3 July 1998, online)

In the late 1960s, Husain began painting gods and goddesses... "Husain's experience of India repeatedly tells him the epical and the mythic are also the experiential, the experiential is the religious... the religious is folkloric, the folkloric is highly adaptive, and it is truly popular and demonstrably contemporary." (Shyamal Bagchee, "Augmented Nationalism: The Nomadic Eye of Painter M F Husain," asianart.com, 3 July 1998, online)

In the late 1960s, Husain began painting gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon, as well as scenes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. In the large, panoramic present lot, Husain pays tribute to Lord Ganesha, the 'Lord of Wisdom' and 'Remover of Obstacles'. One of the most beloved and revered deities of the Hindu pantheon, the representation of Ganesha in Indian art dates back to the 5th century. Here, Ganesha is depicted in three classical poses. On the left, he is in a cosmic dance similar to Shiva, holding a snake with many heads. In the centre, a Trimukha Ganesha is seated holding a trident in one hand and balancing the universe in the other. On the right, Ganesha is seated on a bull in the tribhanga pose-a stance where the head and lower limbs are angled similarly, and the torso is bent in the opposite direction- while his hands assume mudras. Th e use of animal motifs, such as the snake, tiger and bull taps into "the deeper, inchoate reaches of emotion." (Richard Bartholomew and Shiv S Kapur, Husain, New York: Harry N Abrams, Inc., 1972, p. 36)

Writer K Bikram Singh attributes Husain's unique stylistic approach to the perception of gods as being either accessible or distant, according to their position in the hierarchy of the pantheon. "As a person and as an artist, Husain sees faith and spirituality as an extension of humanism and iconic images for him represent the 'divinity of man' that has expressed itself in a variety of representations in our world." (K Bikram Singh, Maqbool Fida Husain, New Delhi: Rahul & Art, 2008, p. 168)

Set against the colours of the Indian flag, the present lot roots classical iconography in a post-independence India, bridging tradition and modernity. Husain's "pictorial concerns were tied to imagining a secular modern Indian art. Simultaneously rejecting the preceding styles of naturalism and revivalism, Husain sought a language in paint that translated India's 'composite culture' into a rich mosaic of colours. He stretched his canvas to monumental sizes to accommodate the panorama of Indian life that was real, mythical and symbolic all at once." (Manifestations IV: LXXV Artists, New Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery, 2009, p. 93)

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