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lot 14

lot 14

Maqbool Fida Husain

Untitled (Lady with Blue Tiger)

acrylic on board
48 x 47 in. (121.9 x 119.4 cm.)
painted in 2005

Winning Bid: $ 140,000

Estimate: US$ 120,000 - 180,000

Lot Closed

Lot Details

Signed, dated and inscribed 'Husain / 15.7.005 / London' (upper right)

PROVENANCE
Saffronart / Lot 37 / Summer Online Auction / Modern and Contemporary Indian Art / 16 - 17 June 2010
Saffronart / Lot 47 / Summer Online Auction / Modern and Contemporary Indian Art / 19 - 20 June 2012
Acquired from the above by the present owner

M.F. Husain incorporates animal forms to represent nature and embody their emotional, literary, and mythical associations in his works. The characters of his metaphors, the tiger, in this case, is not the subject of the painting, but the inspiring principle that it depicts. Much like a fable, he includes an animal form to reflect and enhance the mood of the human character as in this painting, successfully created visual poetry that has its rhythm, its symbolism, and its own sensuous and abstract connotations in the composition.

Maqbool Fida Husain

(1915 - 2011)
Born in Pandharpur, Maharashtra, in 1915, Husain moved to Mumbai in 1937 where he sustained himself by painting cinema hoardings and designing furniture and toys. A self-taught artist, Husain was invited to join the Progressive Artists Group in 1947 by F.N. Souza after his first public exhibition of paintings. Most recently, his work has been featured in solo shows including ‘M.F. Husain: Early Masterpieces 1950s-1970s at the David Winton Bell Gallery, Providence in 2010; ‘Epic India’ at the peabody Essex Museum, Salem, in 2006-07; and ‘Early Masterpieces 1950-70s, at Asia House Gallery, London, in 2006. Husain was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, India’s Upper House of Parliament in 1986-92, during which he pictorially recorded its events, which were then published in 1994. The Government of India awarded him with a Padma Shri in 1966, a Padma Bhushan in 1973 and Padma Vibhushan in 1991, all high civilian honours. In 1971, Husain was invited to exhibit as a special invitee with Pablo Picasso at the Sao Paulo Biennale, Brazil. In 2004, he was awarded the Lalit Kala Ratna by the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. Husian passed away in London in 2011.