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Lot 2

 

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“In his drive to create an Indian contemporary art, M.F. Husain has become a master of myth, not only portraying deities and episodes from the Mahabharata and Ramayana, but in projecting historical figures into the transcendent realm of the mythic” (Susan Bean, “Now, Then, Beyond Time in India’s Contemporary Art”, Contemporary Indian Art: Other Realities, Marg, Mumbai, 2002, p. 48).

In the present lot, a large, sepia-toned canvas,... “In his drive to create an Indian contemporary art, M.F. Husain has become a master of myth, not only portraying deities and episodes from the Mahabharata and Ramayana, but in projecting historical figures into the transcendent realm of the mythic” (Susan Bean, “Now, Then, Beyond Time in India’s Contemporary Art”, Contemporary Indian Art: Other Realities, Marg, Mumbai, 2002, p. 48).

In the present lot, a large, sepia-toned canvas, Husain offers his take on the Cold War, alluding to it as a game of chess played out between the three superpower nations of the time, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Arranged around the checkered chess board are the flags and representatives of these three nations, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin respectively. These distinctive leaders, frequently referred to as the Big Three, were instrumental in deciding the fate of Europe after the Second World War, and for shaping its administration during the Post War years.

Reflecting on the poor condition of life behind the Iron Curtain, Husain replaces traditional chess-pieces on the board with an ordinary man and woman, commenting on the effects that the policies of the Big Three had on ordinary citizens in lands far removed from their own. Resonating with his own experiences is perhaps the persecution of intellectuals and artists in many Central and Eastern European nations during the period, forcing them into voluntary exile.

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