Maqbool Fida Husain (1915-2011)

Good overall condition. Lines very dark brown, rather than black as appears in catalogue illustration.
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The bold, playful lines and classic configuration of the current work are highly indicative of Husain's energetic work from the 1950s. The elegance and economy of line reflects the confidence of the artist, suggesting a village scene replete with protagonist, antagonist and dynamic tension with minimum delineation.

The female nude, a favored and familiar subject of the artist, grasps an ambulatory rooster between her open thighs. The serene expression on the woman's face and the ease with which both creatures negotiate the shared space suggest a sense of harmony and balance. The symbolism of the masculine and feminine elements in union is a deep-rooted theme in Indian iconography, of which Husain makes liberal use.

When asked if his images and symbols have any particular personal or iconographical significance, Husain replied, 'They have no extra-pictorial significance, as images. They may be symbolic if the particular relationship is effective—because two images when placed together act upon each other. The symbol then derives its life from the energy released ... '

Bartholomew continues: "Similarly, the lamp on the woman's thigh, or beside her, with spokes, or radii, of light within the flask of the bulb, has phallic implications. So too does the hawk, the cactus, or the horse. In series after series Husain has put these images together in varying juxtaposition. Perhaps the general inference is the same; yet each successful work is a different painting with a province of feeling determined by the construction, by the poetic premise of the composition. The subject may be the same, but the revelation each t.mes is different," (Bartholomew and Kapur, Husain, New York, 1972, p. 21). 

Compare the composition of the current work to the oil on canvas works Village Woman and also Woman at Work (1958) from the Thomas Keehn collects ion, reproduced in Dalmia, The Making of Indian Modern Art: The Progressives, Delhi, 2001, pl. 48.