MAQBOOL FIDA HUSAIN (1913-2011)

“Lost is the passage of sound in my jungle. Today the burnt bamboos have scratched the heart of silent sky, and greens sucked in elephant jugs. White tusks daggered inside the stomach of black mountain. They say: for seven days the passage of sound was lost.” (R. Bartholomew and S. Kapur, Husain, New York, 1971, unpaginated).

Maqbool Fida Husain imbues Elephant Family with the warmth and energy which he came to associate with his passion for the Keralan landscape following his visits there in the 1960s. “On Kerala’s sands and in its elephant-inhabited jungle and among its people Husain heard a cry.” (R. Bartholomew and S. Kapur, Husain, New York, 1971, p. 55) Husain uses thick broken brushstrokes to render these three overlapping stylised animals. This painting presents a portrait of three elephants that revel in a pure and primal playfulness. Throughout his career Husain returned to animals which he felt embodied specific powerful qualities. Here the elephant is a symbol of free spirited frivolity, unimpeded and unbridled. This is simultaneously an intimate and joyous moment as this family of elephants bask in the sunshine, bathed in yellow and gold.