Estimate: $80,000 - $120,000
Auction: October 29, 2019 12:00:00 PM EDT
Signed twice (once in Devanagari) bottom left, signed twice again (once in Devanagari) verso, oil on canvas.
Executed in 2002.
49 1/2 x 39 1/2 in. (125.7 x 100.3cm)
Provenance: The Artist.
Gita Art Gallery, New Delhi, India (acquired directly from the above).
Prominent Canadian Collection (acquired directly from the above in 2002).
note:
This lot is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Shafat Hussain and date 01-02-2012, as well as another certificate of authenticity signed by Kuljit Singh Butalia, issued by Gita Art Gallery and dated November 2, 2002.
Celebrated as one of India's preeminent Modernists, M.F. Husain is best known for his distinctive visual language that evokes the rhythm and energy of contemporary India and emphasizes the richness of its civilization. This vibrant idiom seamlessly fuses stylistic and thematic aspects of the Western modernist vocabulary with the Indian visual tradition. A zealous patriot and founding member of the influential Bombay Progressive Artist's group, formed the year India won its independence from Great Britain, Husain played a leading role in forging a modern Indian art for a new country. Despite the Cubist, Impressionist and Expressionist influences present in his paintings, the self-professed "Indian-origin painter" drew much of the subject matter for his art from traditional Indian festivals, rituals, mythology and literature, and reworked them into his own unique style. Husain had a particular affinity for Indian mythology, a theme he revisited continuously throughout his career.
Though Husain's repertoire is rich in its depiction of Hindu deities, he gave notable prominence to the god Ganesha, whom he featured in hundreds of paintings, prints and drawings. The present painting features the elephant god poised against a background of bold, energetic blocks of color, dynamically rendered with thick, gestural brushstrokes. This powerful image, completed late in the artist's career, is emblematic of Husain's deep connection to his cultural roots, and an excellent example of his visually arresting and symbolically charged oeuvre.