M. F. Husain

Maqbool Fida Husain (17 September 1915 – 9 June 2011) was an Indian artist known for executing bold, vibrantly coloured narrative paintings in a modified Cubist style.

He was one of the most celebrated and internationally recognised Indian artists of the 20th century.

He was one of the founding members of Bombay Progressive Artists' Group.

Husain was born on 17 September 1915 in Pandharpur, Bombay Province (present-day Maharashtra) in a Suleymani Bohra family.

He picked up taste in art through studying calligraphy while he stayed at a Madrasa in Baroda.

Husain attended the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art in Mumbai but couldn't finish his schooling.

Early in his career, Husain painted cinema posters in Mumbai.

To earn additional income, he worked for a toy company designing and building toys.

He often travelled to Gujarat to paint landscapes whenever he could afford to travel.

Husain developed his painting skills in the 1930s, painting billboards for the growing Bollywood film industry.

This was a clique of young artists who wished to break with the nationalist traditions established by the Bengal school of art and to encourage an Indian avant-garde, engaged at an international level.

In 1934, he sold his first painting for Rs 10 on the roadside.

Husain's father, who was an accountant, wanted him to get into business.

M.F. Husain is associated with Indian modernism in the 1940s.

His early association with the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group used modern technique, and was inspired by the "new" India after the partition of 1947.

His narrative paintings, executed in a modified Cubist style, can be caustic and funny as well as serious and sombre.

His themes—sometimes treated in series—include topics as diverse as Gandhi, Mother Teresa, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the British Raj, and motifs of Indian urban and rural life.

The artists cite "The Partition" of India and Pakistan 14 August 1947, with its resulting religious rioting and heavy loss of life as their reason for forming The Progressive Artist's Group in Bombay in December 1947.

The artists saw the Partition as a "turning point" for India, and their new style of art was urged on by, and was also a turning point for, (modern) Indian Art.

Husain's first solo art exhibition was in 1952 in Zürich.

His first U.S. exhibit was at India House in New York City in 1964.

his biography written by Akhilesh "Maqbool" is the most appreciated book published by Rajkamal Prakashan New Delhi.

In 1967, he received the National Film Award for Best Experimental Film for Through the Eyes of a Painter.

The paintings in question were created in 1970, but did not become an issue until 1996, when they were printed in Vichar Mimansa, a Hindi monthly magazine, which published them in an article headlined "M.F. Husain: A Painter or Butcher".

In response, eight criminal complaints were filed against him.

Husain was a special invitee along with Pablo Picasso at the São Paulo Biennial, Brazil in 1971.

He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1986.

His paintings allegedly hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus, which beginning in the 1990s mounted a campaign of protest against him.

He married Fazila Bibi (d. 1998) in 1941, they had six children: four sons (including artists Shamshad and Owais) and two daughters - Raisa, his muse and an actress and costume designer in his films and Aqueela, his muse.

Although he was raised in a Muslim household, Husain sought freedom to capture the essence of beauty in other religious cultures, for which he received a backlash.

In 1998 Husain's house was attacked by Hindu fundamentalist groups like Bajrang Dal and art works were vandalised.

The leadership of another fundamentalist political party Shiv Sena endorsed the attack.

Twenty-six Bajrang Dal activists were arrested by the police.

Protests against Husain also led to the closure of an exhibition in England.

In 2004, he directed Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities, a film he worked on with his artist son Owais Husain, which was screened in the Marché du film section of the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2004, Delhi High Court dismissed these complaints of "promoting enmity between different groups ... by painting Hindu goddesses – Durga and Sarswati, that was later compromised by Hindu fundamentalist groups."

He remained in a self imposed exile from 2006 until his death in 2011, accepting Qatari citizenship in 2010.

In September 2020, his painting titled “Voices”, auctioned for a record $2.5 million.

Husain's later works have stirred controversy, which included nude portrayals of Hindu deities, and a nude portrayal of Bharat Mata.

Right-wing organisations called for his arrest, and several lawsuits were filed against him for hurting religious sentiments.