Maqbool Fida Husain
Untitled (Horse), 1990
Ink wash on paper
107 x 71.5cm
42 1/8 x 28 1/8 in
42 1/8 x 28 1/8 in
Signed 'Husain' upper left
The horse appeared in Husain's work from the 1950s onwards, and it is perhaps one of the defining characteristics of his entire oeuvre. As a child in Indore, he used...
The horse appeared in Husain's work from the 1950s onwards, and it is perhaps one of the defining characteristics of his entire oeuvre. As a child in Indore, he used to be taken to a local farrier. On his trip to China in 1952 he studied Sung dynasty representations. But primarily he knew the horse as a motif from stories of the martyrdom of the Imam Husain, as well as the mounts of the Hindu princes, the aswamedha. As well as these formal allusions the horse represents energy, power and fury.
Provenance
Christie's, Southeast Asian and 20th Century Indian Pictures, Hong Kong, 6 July 2003, Lot 82;Private Singapore Collection, acquired from the above