Paint & Brush
GALLERY
"Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt."
-Leonardo Da Vinci
"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
-Pablo Picasso
"You use a glass mirror to see your face,you use works of art to see your soul."
- George Bernard Shaw
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M.F Hussain
Sprinkling Horses
M.F. Husain’s “Sprinkling Horses” sold for $1.14 million at an auction on Tuesday, one of the highest prices ever paid for a work of the late master and a positive sign for the Indian art market.
“Sprinkling Horses,” for which a sales estimate was not made public, was one of 13 paintings by Mr. Husain that were presented at Christie’s auction of South Asian modern and contemporary art in New York. All were sold, for a total of $4.2 million.
The subject of “Sprinkling Horses”– a dynamic depiction of horses paired with a human figure – is one of the hallmarks of Mr. Husain’s art. Inspired by Muslim Shiite iconography – Imam Husain is typically shown on a horse – the artist’s earliest depictions of the animal date back to the 1950s.
8-horses by Hussain
Husain was associated with Indian modernism in the 1940s. His early association with the Progressive Artist's Group, or "PAG of Bombay" used modern technique, and was inspired by the "new" India after The Partition of 1947. His narrative paintings, executed in a modified Cubist style, can be caustic and funny as well as serious and sombre. His themes—sometimes treated in series—include topics as diverse as Mohandas K. Gandhi, Mother Teresa, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the British raj, and motifs of Indian urban and rural life. Early in his painting career, and until his death, he enjoyed depicting the lively and free spirit of horses in many of his works. Often referred to as the "Picasso of India," M.F. Husain is the most celebrated and internationally recognized Indian artist of the 20th century. Husain is primarily known for his paintings, but is also known for his drawings and his work as a printmaker, photographer, and filmmaker. Some of his later works stirred controversy, as they depicted traditional Deities of India in non traditional ways.
M. F. Husain was born on 17 Sept. 1913 in Pandharpur to a Sulaymani Bohra family who trace their roots back to Gujarat within the last 200 years, and then originally to Yemen. He picked up taste in art through studying calligraphy while he stayed at a Madraasa in Baroda. Primarily self-taught, Husain painted cinema posters in Mumbai early in his career. To earn extra money, he worked for a toy company designing and building toys. He often travelled to Gujarat to paint landscapes when he could afford to.
This was a clique of young artists who wished to break with the nationalist traditions established by the Bengal school of art and to encourage an Indian avant-garde, engaged at an international level. The artists cite "The Partition" of India and Pakistan 14 August 1947, with its resulting religious rioting and heavy loss of life as their reason for forming The Progressive Artist's Group in Bombay in December, 1947. The artists saw the Partition as a "turning point" for India, and their new style of art was urged on by, and was also a turning point for, (modern) Indian Art. Husain's first solo exhibit was in 1952 in Zurich. His first U.S.A. exhibit was at India House in New York in 1964. In 1966, he was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri.
