A forgotten oil-on-canvas genius by American artist MF Husain, which was discovered years afterwards, has rewritten the history of Indian artwork.
Untitled ( Gram Yatra ), a 14-foot-wide mural by Husain, sold last week at a Christie’s auction in New York for an unprecedented$ 13.8 million ( £10.6 million ). The Story Teller, starring Amrita Sher-Gil ,’s previous Indian high of$ 7.4 million (£ 5.7 million ) broken by the pair in 2023.
Husain, 95, was a trailblazer of American modernism and continues to inspire contemporary Indian musicians forever. He abruptly left India in 2006 after Hindu extremists threatened him with execution for his representations of gods.
The unassuming painting, which spanned almost five centuries, neglected and underestimated, disarmingly adorned the walls of a Scandinavian doctor. It is currently considered to be the pinnacle of contemporary South Eastern art.
Husain painted Gram Yatra, or community quest, in 1954, long before he became a household name.
His unique fusion of Indian folk customs and contemporary influences is reflected in his 13 brilliant snapshots of American village life. The small tradition of India’s vignettes, where small pictures weave a narrative, is echoed by the narrative paintings.
Husain used attractive, earthy tones to create 13 frames of women in real-world situations like cooking, taking care of kids, and carrying a cart.
A producer extends his arm in one of the frames in a nod to Indian society’s agricultural roots as if holding the land in the other window.
This is the one piece of contemporary South Eastern arts that, according to Nishad Avari, head of South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art at Christie’s, “if you’re looking for a one piece of art that defines modern South Eastern arts, this is it.”
He added that the artwork also showed how Husain was influenced by his journeys, particularly his 1952 trip to China, which gave him a taste for the lettering brushstrokes of musicians like Xu Beihong, signs of which can be seen in the expressive strokes of the artwork.
In the years that followed India’s democracy, he sought ideas in the villages of India, which was a reflection of Mahatma Gandhi’s conviction that the nation’s roots were in its rural roots.
Singh, the artist’s writer, claims that Husain’s deep understanding of India’s historical material, “how people live, what they like, and what they think” contributed to the country’s understanding of itself.
The painting also reveals Husain’s early adopters of the modernist style, which featured geometric shapes and strong lines in his creations.
The art’s journey from Delhi to Oslo strengthens its mystery.
Leon Elias Volodarsky, a Ukrainian doctor, purchased it in 1954 for just$ 295 while he was on a World Health Organization ( WHO ) mission in India.
The bit adorned the rooms of Oslo University Hospital for nearly 50 years after he took it there, mostly unnoticed by the art world.
It remained that way for a number of years until Christie’s, an auction house, received a notification about it in 2013 two decades after Husain’s passing, which led to its worldwide events before this record-smashing sales.
This, according to Ashish Anand of Delhi Art Gallery, will increase the worth of Husain’s entire body of work and “lead to American artwork being viewed beyond just its aesthetic value to a substantial and significant economic asset.”