Osian's Auction Catalogue ABC Series III | March 2007

ABC Series III 77 78 M.F. HUSAIN (b.1915) Untitled S/d in Devnagari ‘Bhutalingam 90’ t.l. Watercolour on paper, 1990 14.9 x 22.0 in (37.8 x 56.0 cm) INR 1,600,000 – 2,000,000 USD 36,100 – 45,150 (Set of 2) Works illustrated in Pritish Nandy Recreates The Best of Sanskrit Love Poetry Careless Whispers Drawings by M.F. Husain Rupa & Co. 1994. 79 M.F. HUSAIN (b.1915) Untitled Watercolour on paper, 1990 22.0 x 14.9 in (56.0 x 37.8 cm) i. S/d in Devnagari ‘Bhutalingam 90’ l.l. ii. S/d in Devnagari ‘Bhutalingam 90’ t.l. INR 1,600,000 – 2,000,000 USD 36,100 – 45,150 (Set of 2) ‘The lines race, jab or are muted. There is an unfailing energy about them. Where the lines are nely made the colours run into each other in subtle tones, and the whole appears as a distillation of thought and feeling.’ – Shiv S. Kapur, rpt. in LKA 1961. ‘He creates symbols all his own, shaping them in sure unfaltering lineswhichowwiththeswiftness of a gurgling brook, turning and twisting on the contours of his powerful imagery. His skill and vision have created innumerable images and continue to do so in a speed which is truly prolic.’ – R.Chatterji rpt. in Indian Drawing Today 1987 JAG; p64. ‘The prime symbol of Husain’s total view of life is the woman, again perhaps the Indian woman. For pain comes to woman as her natural state, the giving of birth and because of birth, an awareness of dissolution. Woman is the sentient point of man’s natural being… There is pity in her eyes, as there is love in her breast. Man is, according to Husain, virile only in heroism, is broken by pain. Husain paints women because these are not heroic times and tenderly joyous or suffering, women remain vital.’ – Shiv S. Kapur, rpt. in LKA 1961.