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M F HUSAIN
(1913 ‒ 2011)
Untitled
Signed in Devnagari (upper right)
Oil on canvas
39 x 19.5 in (98.8 x 49.5 cm)
Rs 1,00,00,000 ‒ 1,50,00,000
$ 149,255 ‒ 223,885
PROVENANCE:
Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
Husain could draw a village
woman with as much dexterity
and compassion as he could a
portrait of Mother Teresa or Indira
Gandhi. He was as interested in rural
India, with women and their water
pots or animals, as he was in pop‒
culture, portraying movie stars from
Bollywood. “The human figure has
remained the prime motif of his art,
the vehicle for his exploration of the
nature and drama of reality.” (Richard
Bartholomew and Shiv S Kapur,
Husain
, New York: Harry N Abrams,
Inc., 1972, p. 36) The oddly placed
glove on the hand in the foreground
conveys Husain’s unique sense of
humour, and perhaps suggests a
connection between rural and
urban, ancient and modern ways.
“A woman here is just a woman, and
not a particular woman... I avoid using
the face because I am not painting a
particular person but presence of a
humanbeing—thatwhich is universal.”
M F HUSAIN
M F Husain
Image © M. F. Husain Foundation