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CULTURE OF THE STREETS:
PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTFOLIO BY M F
HUSAIN
Culture of the Streets, a photographic portfolio by
Husain containing 20 big sized photos on metallic
photo glossy paper, published by Pundole, c.1981, with
one page introduction by Khalid Mohammed, size 18 x
14 inches.
This rare folder of iconic photographs done by M. F.
Husain, perhaps India's most widely-known modern
artist, in conjunction with Chester and Davida Herwitz,
who built the largest collection of Modern Indian art in
the United States, and worked directly with Husain on
manyprojects throughout their lifetimes.
The photography in this series is inspired by Husain's
early years as a billboard painter for Indian cinema
during its explosion in the mid-20th century, and often
presents stunning, yet playful, juxtapositions with the
large glamorous cinematic images forming a backdrop
to the frenetic life and crowds of the modern Indian
streets.
The photographs encapsulated three worlds - the
man on the street (reality), the towering, larger-than-
life dashing images of heroes and heroines of cinema
(fantasy), and the endless blue sky looking down on the
play of destiny.
Chester Herwitz commented on the revelations of
these images by stating there are discoveries to be made
in Husain's integration of the people beneath, beside,
and in front of the hoardings, in the rich contrast of
colors, the similarity of movement on the street and in
the hoardings, in the contradictions that can be read in
the scrawled graffiti and the peeled and fadedpaintings.
Rs 40,000-Rs 50,000
$620-$770