The life and times of an artist who was Indian first, last and always
The news came in on a Thursday morning (June 9, 2011). Maqbool Fida Husain, India’s most famous artist, had breathed his last in a London hospital. Within minutes, the Twitterverse was awash with wishes that Husain rest in piece. In the hive of hash tags, a large percentage spelt his name wrongly (it isn’t Hussain). Few would have seen his paintings. Many who recognise his distinctive style know his work from reproductions in catalogues and news articles. But whether or not they’ve seen his canvases, everyone knows M.F. Husain.
Husain’s life was like a fairy tale with a sad ending. Born to a poor Muslim family in Pandharpur, Maharashtra, his beginnings were humble. Success took some time to come but when it did, it embraced him tightly. Husain, with his lanky frame, sharp features and white hair and beard, looked like a groovy prophet. His eccentricities, infatuations and experiments made him the talk of towns across the length and breadth of India.
But then, as in every fairy tale, there were reversals. Controversies and accusations swirled around him and increasingly, Husain became infamous in addition to being famous. He was accused of obscenity, disrespecting religious faith, cowardice and finally, when he decided to become a citizen of Qatar, betrayal. But despite all this, Husain remained an icon of Indian art till the end of his days. He was loved, hated, admired, envied but he was never dismissed from public memory.
In his paintings, Husain made a concerted effort to bring pop culture into his canvases but not in a kitschy way. His canvases showed common life — a Mohun Bagan football match in Kolkata, the allure of Dixit’s curvaceous figure, Indira Gandhi’s take-no-prisoners approach in the Emergency era — as high art. Husain’s paintings were accessible, even if in later years their symbolism became too obvious on many occasions. They emphasised the idea that the art didn’t have to be esoteric. His paintings did not belong only in salons, galleries and museums. At the same time, just because a painting was inspired by simple, sensual pleasures or agonies, it didn’t have to be any less nuanced than an erudite work if it was well conceived.
One of Husain’s most famous paintings from his later years, especially after the 2008 Delhi High Court verdict that cleared him of charges of obscenity, is “Bharat Mata”. Painted in 2005, it has an incredible raw energy to it. The lines look like knife cuts, particularly the ones that make up the female body bent uncomfortably to mime India’s geographic contours. Her flesh, or the land, is a bloody red. Accents of white, like the chakra, emphasise the reds and dark shadows in the painting. Her eye, hollowed cheek, flared nostril and parted lips are slashed upon her skin. Contorted, gasping and powerful, this is a passionate India that has suffered and survived wars and violence.
(This story appears in the 01 July, 2011 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)