A collection of over 20 paintings by legendary artist M.F. Husain fetched $4.7 million at auctions held at the prestigious Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York. An auction held last week at Sotheby’s of 11 masterpieces by late Husain fetched a total of $557,500 with one of his paintings Man with Sitar selling for $146,500.
He is commonly known as MF, and although Indian in origin, he was a Qatari national at the time of his death. He has been widely regarded as the “Picasso of India” and has influenced a whole generation of artists in the country. Husain was associated with Indian modernism in the 1940s. A dashing, highly eccentric figure who dressed in impeccably tailored suits, he went barefoot and brandished an extra-long paintbrush as a slim cane.
Husain never maintained a studio but he spread his canvases out on the floor of whatever hotel room he happened to be staying in and paying for damages when he checked out. He created four museums to showcase his work and had a collection of classic sports cars. Enormously prolific, a gifted self-promoter and hard bargainer, he claimed to have produced some 60,000 paintings, when questioned about such prolificity by Michael Peschardt of the BBC in one of the last interviews he gave on May 27th, 2011, he replied that “All this talk about inspiration and moment is nonsense. Excuse us”.
Proceeds from the Sotheby’s auction paled in comparison to those generated at Christie’s recently, where a single Husain work was sold for $1.14 million.
At the Christie’s sale, Sprinkling Horses went under the hammer for $1.14 million, one of the highest amounts ever paid for the late master’s work. It was among the 13 paintings that were auctioned at Christie’s sale of South Asian modern and contemporary art. The 13 paintings were sold for a total of $4.2 million.
Eleven Husain paintings were on sale at Sotheby’s, which presented Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art including Indian Miniature Paintings as part of its week of Asian art auctions.
A legendary artist, whose work often landed him in controversy, Husain passed away in June this year. He was among the first and few artists from India to be in the ‘one million dollar club’
His Empty Bowl at the Last Supper was sold for $2 million in 2005, which was at that time the highest sum ever paid for a work of modern Indian art. In 2008, Husain’s Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata fetched $1.6 million, setting a world record at Christie’s South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art sale.
Below 1996 Untitled Oil on Canvas
Below Untitled Oil on Canvas (1964)
I love this shot:
AND this one:
Here’s a link from Indian Muslim Legends that has a host of fabulous shots.
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