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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, NORWAY
11
M F HUSAIN
(1913 ‒ 2011)
Untitled (Woman with Elephant)
Signed in Devnagari (upper left)
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 in (76.5 x 61 cm)
Rs 50,00,000 ‒ 70,00,000
$ 79,370 ‒ 111,115
PROVENANCE
Acquired from Gita Art Gallery, New Delhi, 1974
Collection of Nils Aage Paulsen, Norway
Thence by descent
Husain used symbols to create juxtapositions and
incorporate mythology and storytelling in his art. Elephants
in his paintings, were symbols of “power and pursuit, or of
mysterious encounters.” (Richard Bartholomew and Shiv S
Kapur,
Husain,
New York: Harry N Abrams, Inc., 1971, p. 20)
The white elephant on the woman’s lap in the present lot
alludes to the story of Buddha’s birth, where Queen Maya
of Sakya dreamt of a white elephant the night before Prince
Siddhartha was born. Husain was familiar with this myth and
addressed it in paintings such as
Maya Dreams of an Elephant
(circa 1980s),
Maya II
and
Maya With Pink Elephant.
The
unlikely pairing of the two figures without the story, exudes
the same uncanny, yet joyous energy as do Husain’s paintings
of women with lamps, spokes and horses. Speaking to Richard
Bartholomew, Husain hinted that this juxtaposition “may be
symbolic if the particular relationship is effective—because
two images when placed together act upon each other. The
symbol then derives its life from the energy released.” (Artist
quoted in Bartholomew and Kapur, p. 21)
Husain’s paintings of a woman with elephant are layered with symbolism and
mythological references.
Dreams
, 1979
Saffronart, New Delhi, 8 September 2016, lot 49
Sold for INR 4.4 crores ($672,727)
NILS AAGE PAULSEN
The present lot was acquired by Nils
Aage Paulsen in the 1970s when he
was on posting in New Delhi with the
Norwegian Agency for Development
Cooperation. Paulsen’s job also took him
to Kenya, Tanzania and Bangladesh and
being a painter himself, his passion for
art led him to collect African and Asian
art. He spent four years in New Delhi,
and bought
Woman with Elephant
at
the former Gita Art Gallery in 1974,
where it was on display. Through this
sale, Paulsen became acquainted
with Husain’s son Shamshad, also an
artist. When Paulsen returned to Oslo,
Norway, he took the painting with him.
It resided in his apartment until his
death in 1988, and was subsequently
bequeathed to his sister Grethe Løvald.
Since her death in 2002, the painting has
remained within the family.
Image courtesy of the family