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Maqbool Fida Husain (Indian, 1915-2011)Untitled (Possibly a scene from the Mahabharata, depicting Vyasa)
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Maqbool Fida Husain (Indian, 1915-2011)
signed lower right
acrylic on canvas
91.5 x 122cm (36 x 48 1/16in).
Footnotes
Provenance
Private Indian Collection: acquired by the owner in Dubai from the artist in 2006.
Exhibited
Timeless Treasures: A Collection of Modern and Contemporary Masters from across the region, Online Exhibition, Singapore Art Week, 22nd-30th January 2021
Husain's first works depicting the Mahabharata were done for the Sao Paulo Biennale, held in September 1971, and it was in the catalogue for the Biennale, that he quoted K.M.Munshi, the distinguished scholar of Indian philosophy and epics, regarding the significance of the poem: 'The Mahabharata is not a mere epic; it is a romance, telling the tale of heroic men and women and of some who were divine; it is a whole literature in itself, containing a code of life, a philosophy of social and ethical thought on human problems that is hard to rival.' (K. Bikram Singh, Maqbool Fida Husain, New Delhi, 2008, p. 142)
The present lot, painted in 2005, appears to have been inspired from the incidents or stories of the Mahabharata, with the depiction of Vyasa, its compiler, seated in the top right corner and two warriors aiming their bow and arrows at the horse. Husain continued to depict the epic in various forms for the remainder of his career. The Mahabharata appealed to him given its moral and emotional complexity, which encompassed the perennial human emotions of ambition, greed, love, violence, heroism, vengeance, and deceit.
Saleroom notices
The scene depicted here appears to be from the Ramayana depicting Luv and Kush on the bottom left, with Valmiki the Sage to the top right, and not the Mahabharata as stated in the catalogue.

