Maqbool Fida Husain’s epic 1954 painting, Untitled (Gram Yatra), a vibrant 14-foot depiction of Indian village life, has reached a milestone in the history of modern Indian art. The painting, last seen over 70 years ago, was sold for a record $13.8 million (£10.6 million) at a Christie’s sale in New York on March 19, 2023.The sale is the record price paid for a work of art by a South Asian artist, more than three times its estimated price of $3.5 million (£2.7 million).
Prior to this, the record was previously held by Amrita Sher-Gil’s The Story Teller (1937), which sold for $7.4 million (£5.7 million) last year in Mumbai. But Untitled (Gram Yatra) has now become the second-highest selling South Asian artwork, defeated only by a 12th-century black stone Bodhisattva sculpture, which went for $24.6 million (£19 million) at Christie’s New York in 2017.
Rare Painting With an Exquisite History
The painting was originally purchased by Norwegian surgeon and art collector Leon Elias Volodarsky in 1954 while he worked for the World Health Organization in Delhi. It stayed in a private collection at Oslo University Hospital until donated by Volodarsky’s estate in 1964. For decades, it was hung out of sight, its true value unknown.
Now “The Volodarsky Husain,” the painting was sold by Oslo University Hospital with proceeds going towards the creation of a medical training centre. The sale generated a bidding war, with five players vying for the painting, which was eventually acquired by an undisclosed institution via Christie’s South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art head Nishad Avari.
Significance of Untitled (Gram Yatra)
MF Hussain’s painting Gram Yatra
During the auction, Avari called the painting ‘by far one of the most important works’ he had ever seen in his career. He highlighted its historical significance because it was created only five years after India’s independence, portraying the spirit of a newly-created nation through the eyes of rural life. “This massive painting is Husain’s magnum opus, a cornerstone of his oeuvre celebrating the diversity and dynamism of a newly independent nation,” Avari said. “Gram Yatra is an exemplar of nation-building through art.”
The painting is composed of 13 distinct vignettes, each depicting various aspects of Indian village life. The work was regarded as seminal in establishing Husain’s vision of a modern India in the post-independence era.
Picasso of India
Husain, sometimes dubbed the “Picasso of India,” is a seminal figure in contemporary Indian art. A founder of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group, Husain’s combination of traditional Indian painting with Western expressionist styles was instrumental in formulating Indian modernism in the 1940s. His paintings, spanning topics ranging from mythology to rural India, were hugely acclaimed, though his later representations of Hindu gods and goddesses nude ignited controversy.
In spite of legal challenges and threats to his artwork, Husain kept painting until he passed away in 2011 at the ripe old age of 95. Two of his works with nude images of Hindu gods were at the focal point of a legal battle in India recently. But a court rejected the lawyer’s plea for confiscating the paintings, with the gallery concerned claiming its faith in artistic freedom.
Milestone for Art World
The sale of Untitled (Gram Yatra) for a record price has created a new benchmark for South Asian contemporary art, solidifying Husain’s status as one of the most groundbreaking artists of his generation. It also highlights the increasing international appreciation and valuation of Indian contemporary art in the international market.
As the painting passes on to new owners, Husain’s legacy of his observation of India’s rural existence and post-independence identity continues to entice art enthusiasts and collectors across the globe.
