MAQBOOL FIDA HUSAIN (B. 1915)

Art has to evolve from your very being, like my horses are classical, because I see them as ageless and immortal. They draw chariots in the great epics, they stand proudly in the poorest stables, they are embodiments of strength like the dragons of China.

(M. F. Husain with Khalid Mohammed, 'Where Art Thou' in M. F. Husain: Early Masterpieces 1950s - 1970s, exhibition catalogue, unpaginated)

This work draws upon an innate knowledge of Indian mythology but in composition and technique, owes much to Husain's visit to China in 1952. Here the artist studied Sung Dynasty depictions of horses and was greatly influenced by the painter Qi Baishi's dynamic focus on the expression of a few carefully formed, bold strokes. Similarly, Husain's painting adopts an expressive yet focused dynamism of brush and palette knife, in gestural strokes. Shimmering with energy this work is a vivid example of Husain as 'action painter', capturing a powerfully visceral tri-color scene. According to E. Alkazi, horses are often recognized as symbols of the sun and knowledge; to be associated with life-sustaining forces. Here again, Husain's horses have become "a vehicle for multiple utterances - aggression, power and protection." (R. Shahani, Let History Cut Across Me: Without Me, New Delhi, 1993, p. 8).