Page 101 - Pundole's Auction M0015

50 The Cage series was an important series of paintings
created by Husain in the 1970s. For him, the paintings
50 # provided a commentary on the human condition,
specifically in the context of the way women were treated
PROPERTY FROM A MALAYSIAN COLLECTION in the immediate world around him, a microcosm of
India’s social behaviour. Female figures are frequently
MAQBOOL FIDA HUSAIN seen in Husain’s work, but the women in this series are
distinguished by a unique visual vocabulary and spatial
1913?–?2011 manipulation of the canvas. Rather than paint them in an
obviously confined space, he has used multiple, fractured
The Cage planes to convey a sense of oppression and restriction. The
juxtaposition of the dull background against the bright
Acrylic on canvas cubist planes of colour of the two seated women, jar the
1970s viewer into understanding their reality. One figure cowers
29? × 39? in. (75.6 × 101.4 cm.) towards the other, with no room for escape, both literally
Signed ‘Husain’ upper left and further signed in and metaphorically. They are caged by the ‘social and
Devanagari and Urdu upper left psychological roles’ of Indian society.

??40,00,000?–?60,00,000 99

$ 59,700?–?89,550

EXHIBITED:
Husain in Malaysia, Pundole Art Gallery, Hilton Kuala Lumpur,
8?–12 May, 1979.