MAQBOOL FIDA HUSAIN (1915-2011)

"Husain's horses are subterranean creatures. Their nature is not intellectualized: it is rendered as sensation or as abstract movement, with a capacity to stir up vague premonitions and passions, in a mixture of ritualistic fear and exultant anguish." (R. Bartholomew and S. Kapur, Husain, New York, 1972, p. 43)
The horse became a central part of Maqbool Fida Husain's oeuvre since his first representation of the animal in 1951. They are depicted as strong creatures, usually galloping, with reared heads and tremendous movement. Horses are generally recognized as symbols of the sun and knowledge, and are associated with life giving and sustaining forces. In Husain's paintings, 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) Here, the horse is a symbol of rampant aggression; their heads outstretched, their mouths open and their bodies contorted, as if in mid-fight. Through the uninhibited use of impasto and his choice of earthy tones in combination with bright, bold red, in this work, Husain conveys the sense of raw unimpeded power of a wild herd of untamed horses.