Known as the Picasso of India, Maqbool Fida Husain, commonly known as M F Husain was born in 1915 in Pandharpur in Maharashtra. He studied at Indore Art College before moving to Bombay where he went through a period of painting cinema hoardings.
M F Husain and his friends from Sir J. J. School of Art wanted to go beyond the traditional method of the Bengal school of art. Therefore, they were aware that to take Indian art on a global level, they had to inspire artists to embrace modernism. Husain saw the partition of 1947 as an opportunity to start a movement. As several innocent lives were lost during the partition of India and Pakistan; he surmised that a ‘new India’ was born out of the partition.
It was then that Husain and his friends encouraged their fellow artists to take on new ideas and hence, The Progressive Artists' Group was formed in 1947.
This movement gained recognition and the group was nothing but empowering. It ultimately became a turning point in the history of Indian art. The founding members of the Progressive Artists’ Group along with MF Husain were F. N. Souza, Khrishna Hawlaji Ara, Sayed Haider Raza and Sadanand K....
Known as the Picasso of India, Maqbool Fida Husain, commonly known as M F Husain was born in 1915 in Pandharpur in Maharashtra. He studied at Indore Art College before moving to Bombay where he went through a period of painting cinema hoardings.
M F Husain and his friends from Sir J. J. School of Art wanted to go beyond the traditional method of the Bengal school of art. Therefore, they were aware that to take Indian art on a global level, they had to inspire artists to embrace modernism. Husain saw the partition of 1947 as an opportunity to start a movement. As several innocent lives were lost during the partition of India and Pakistan; he surmised that a ‘new India’ was born out of the partition.
It was then that Husain and his friends encouraged their fellow artists to take on new ideas and hence, The Progressive Artists' Group was formed in 1947.
This movement gained recognition and the group was nothing but empowering. It ultimately became a turning point in the history of Indian art. The founding members of the Progressive Artists’ Group along with MF Husain were F. N. Souza, Khrishna Hawlaji Ara, Sayed Haider Raza and Sadanand K. Bakre.
The paintings of M F Husain of numerous exhibitions throughout the world, including:
- Sao Paulo Biennale in 1971
- The Contemporary Indian Art exhibition at the Royal Academy, London, in 1982 and India
- Myth and Reality: Aspects of Contemporary Indian Art exhibition at the MoMA, New York, in 1982
There have been many publications on his work, notably Richard Bartholomew and Shiv Kapur’s monograph.
MF Husain paintings usually included topics as diverse as the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Mother Teresa, the British raj, and motifs of Indian urban and rural life.
A career that spanned for over seven decades, MF Husain also made feature films, such as Through the Eyes of a Painter, in 1967. This movie received the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival, and Gaja Gamini in 2000.
The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan, both prestigious civilian awards. He spent his last remaining years between Dubai, Doha and London.
In the year 2011, the world was devoid of M F Husain as he passed away in London, having numerous fans reminisce about his legendary creativity. The paintings by Mf Husain will always be revered and exalted in the world of art because of the depth of its meaning and the sincerity that shined in his work.