Signed and dated 'Husain 1990' (upper left)

Titled in the artist's handwriting in a book cataloging the owner's collection of M.F. Husain's works.

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner
(The paintings of the present owner were catalogued by the artist in a book, a copy of the page illustrating the painting and title from this book accompanies the lot.)

M.F Husain’s repertoire is rich in its depiction of Hindu deities. Of these, the artist gives Ganesha, the elephant-headed God, a prominent place. Ganesha, who is the patron of the arts and sciences, is worshipped at the beginning of any endeavor as he is considered the remover of obstacles and the god of beginnings.

Although there had always been some contention regarding the artist's depiction of Hindu deities, his identity as an artist was Indian through and through. This is apparent in his prodigious canvases, an all-encompassing Indian identity depicting the many faces of Indian culture, from the sacred to the mundane. Here, Husain's masterful use of lines lends dynamism and energy to the picture. The deity was defined using bold lines with bright jeweled colors - a testament to the artist's skill as a draughtsman and a colorist.

‘In negotiating the iconic, Husain has re-invested it with a mythic aura, restoring its original function. [...] In ancient epics, the gods stood for immanent energies and were always symbolically represented, imbued as they were with a universal significance. Husain, under modernism, empowered them with a symbolic presence while contextualizing them in the contemporary, thereby layering their form with multiple meanings.’ (Y. Dalmia, The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, New York, 2001, p. 114)