Osian's Auction Catalogue The Masterpieces Series | March 2010

34 11 m.f. h usAin (b. 1915) THE MOTHER TERESA SERIES i. Pieta Serigraphic print on paper, c. 1980 Signed in Bengali ‘Husain’ l.r., with Mother Teresa’s signed inscription in English ‘god bless you, lu Teresa me’ on l.r. and ‘103/300’ on l.l. 16.9 x 21.9 in (43.0 x 55.5 cm) ii. Hungry Child Serigraphic print on paper, c. 1980 Signed in Bengali ‘Husain’ l.r., with Mother Teresa’s signed inscription in English ‘god bless you lu Teresa me’ l.r. and ‘103/300’ l.l. 21.9 x 16.9 in (55.5 x 43.0 cm) iii. Mother & Child Serigraphic print on paper, c. 1980 Signed in Bengali ‘Husain’ l.r. Inscribed in English ‘103/300’ l.l. 21.9 x 16.9 in (55.5 x 43.0 cm) iv. Pieta Serigraphic print on paper, c. 1980 Signed in Bengali ‘Husain’ l.r. Inscribed in English ‘103/300’ l.l. A label in English ‘Husain prints Mother Theresa’ on verso 16.9 x 21.7 in (43.0 x 55.0 cm) Provenance THE OSIAN’s COLLECTION. Acquired from the Delhi Art Gallery who in turn acquired it from the art collector Russi Mody, former MD of TISCO. INR 320,000 – 480,000 US$ 6,670 – 10,000 (Set of 4) “Its Himalayan snow-peaks touching the high Indra- Dhanusha, still the same white robe (or sari) unfolds love on the limping lanes of Calcutta, where at dead of night, an unwanted, almost unborn child crawls in and out of the womb. The burnt browns and charcoal grey skins, with a blob of fading yellow spilled over, keep knocking our senses. They are alive, still loved. In each fold of her sari breathes a revived soul.” – M. F. Husain, rpt. in Husain: Riding the Lightning , Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni, Popular Prakashan, Mumbai, 2000, p.147. “In the way it [Mother Teresa Series] was conceived…I was working on the church with Charles Correa, with the stained glass effect, and the later work that I did, dedicated to Cimabue. All those drawings, then going to churches, cathedrals in small towns, and seeing the relationship of draperies with Byzantine art, and learning to express concepts via draperies, robes, very much stuck in me, the folds fascinated me, and so when I thought of expressing Mother Teresa, and how to do it, these ideas came to my mind”. – M. F. Husain, interview with Neville Tuli, The Flamed Mosaic: Indian Contemporary Painting, Mapin-Heart, Ahmedabad, 1997. p.311. i ii iv iii