Husain as a Painter

From four to six annas to millions of dollars, from painting cinema Hoardings to Mother Teresa, the spectrum of Maqbool Fida Husain’s career gets wider and wider. Husain who is now a name to reckon with began his career in Mumbai as a banner artist painting cinema hoardings for Bollywood movies. This together with his early experience of copying the Koran by hand in fluid calligraphy cast a major influence on his paintings. As a pioneer of the avant-garde Progressive Artist Group in Mumbai in 1947, Husain like many young artists of that euphoric period of India’s Independence was anxious to forge a new vocabulary in Indian art. His constant zeal to do something different and creative urged him to experiment with new ideas and mediums. The deft fusion of tradition with modernity that has become the hallmark of Hussain’s paintings started with the use of motifs from sources like Indian temple sculpture and Indian miniatures. He is considered to be the van guard of Modern painting in India.

During his childhood he often carried his painting kit on his bicycle and went to the countryside of Indore to paint the landscapes of the place. In 1933 he moved to Mumbai and started his career as a hoarding artist. After the Partition of India in 1947, Husain decided to stay in India. In the same year his painting, Sunhera Sansar, was displayed at the annual exhibition of Bombay Art Society. Subsequently he joined the Progressive Artist’s Group and it was here that he came to know about the works of Emil Nolde and Oskar Kokoschka and was strongly influenced by them. His exposure to the greater world of art and paintings nourished and groomed the inherent ingenious painter in him and soon his paintings came to the limelight through a series of exhibitions all over India. These painting focused on some of his favorite subjects that included life on streets, woman and horse and mythological as well as religious personages. His paintings like “Amusement in the Street” and “The Puppet Dancers” reflect forms of life on street. That was the beginning of what proved to be a long and successful career. During the next decade Husain traveled extensively to China, Switzerland, the UK and the US.  In 1971 he was especially invited at the Sao Paulo Biennial to paint along with Pablo Picasso. There he created 29 paintings on Draupadi, the mythological character of the epic- Mahabharata. Some of his best known works known as Sufi paintings were first exhibited at the Pundole Gallery in 1978. In the 80’s Husain became popular as well as controversial. The Shwetambari exhibition at the Jahangir Art Gallery consisted of two halls covered with white cloth, whorls of which also occupied the floor together with torn newspapers. Later, he gave a public performance at the Tata Centre in Kolkata. For several days he enthralled the crowd with his paintings of six goddesses. On the last day of the exhibition he destroyed his paintings by over painting with white paint.

During the British Raj the creativity of Indian art suffered a setback as the English compelled the Indian artist’s to paint landscapes in water and oil color. But with the political upsurge in India emerged the famous revivalist school. Ace painters like Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore and Nandalal Bose pioneered this school of art. Their contribution in reshaping the Indian art can hardly be overemphasized. They also influenced others to follow their school of thoughts. M F Hussain was one who was influenced by them. Prior to Husain, Nandalal Bose was known for his expertise in painting themes based on epics and exploring Asian Art. Besides, like Husain, Nandalal was also known for his works on Indian mythology, Villages and women.

It’s strange that though he is called the Indian Picasso, he did not quite like Pablo Picasso’s works in the beginning as he could not relate to the purely western ideas of Picasso’s art works. Whereas, like Picasso Husain invented new strategies to market his own art. The first artist outside India who influenced Husain’s imagination was Rembrandt. His paintings of human faces haunted the Indian painter so much that he collected pictures of human faces from newspapers to draw them later.

Art knows no boundaries and cannot be circumscribed by thumb rules. This idea gets revivified in the paintings of M F Hussain that remains as the emphatic understanding of the human situation. The master painter’s ingenious ideas and motifs were instrumental in heralding Modernism in the history of Indian art. His synthesis of the works of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque with Indian subjects likes Hindu, Muslim and secular created outstanding modern art. According to the director of the Cogut Centre for the Humanities, Mr. Michel Steinberg, “Husain’s paintings are unique for their profundity and their playfulness, for their ability to explore themes of cultural history and legacy in a context of explosive color and beauty.” From India’s sensuous ancient sculptures, the pied hues of Rajasthani miniature paintings to the lines and forms of Picasso and Braque, Husain’s paintings are rooted to the Indian visual culture as well as social and religious traditions.

The charisma of Husain’s paintings has redefined Indian art. The early evolution of his painterly language was overtaken by adventurous forays into installations and performing art. His experiments with new forms of art are both unforeseen and original. The maestro has painted on a wide array of subjects. From British Raj, to the major cities like Kolkata, Benaras, Rome, Beijing his paintings are known for bold use of color and innovative ideas. His paintings on The Mahabharata, Mother Teresa and the nine major religions of the world have created milestones in his career graph. His big mural around forty feet in height named as the Portrait of the 20^th century constitutes all the major personalities of art, science, dance Literature, politics and so on. Besides the series of his paintings on the Bollywood beauty Madhuri Dixit created much ripples during the 90’s.

Husain’s paintings of horses have become famous both in India and abroad. He has been painting horses since his childhood. As a child he used to see the Muharram procession where the Muslim people carry bright tazias that represent the tombs as they lament the death of Hazarat Imam Husain, grandson of the prophet Mohamed. The procession also included horses symbolizing the historical horse Duldul that belonged to Imam Husain. M F Husain was fascinated by those horses since his childhood. Husain’s horse is denotes a combination of male and female. It’s like Ardh Nariswar (half man-woman). The front part of the horse stands for the male part and is very aggressive while the back portion stands for woman and is full of grace. In Husain’s own words, His horses are “charging like a dragon in the front and graceful and elegant from the back.” Just a few mere lines drawn by the master painter to define the contours of a horse are capable of bringing to life the sheer power, the very unruly dynamic of a horse. A casual stroke of the ingenious artist’s brush while drawing the eye makes the raw energy of the horse effuse wildly. His obsession with horses continues till today. He is all set to set his famous horses against the UAE landscape in a landmark project celebrating the country’s 40^th anniversary (According to Emirates Business). This according to Husain is his tribute to the UAE. Besides, he is also working on a multimedia installation. The project will see five horses cast from Murano glass, all between six and eight feet tall, paired with five of his favorite cars on a rotating platform.

Husain’s enigmatic painting style and vibrant use of colors took him to the peak of success and his fame and popularity shaded all other painters in India. After a long and colorful career his work suddenly became controversial in 1996. His nude paintings of Hindu gods and goddesses created much brouhaha in India and many legal cases were launched against him. Following the death threats and legal actions, Husain went to exile in Qatar. Among the paintings that created trouble for Husain, the nude Saraswati and Bharatmata were most criticized. However, according to the eminent artist, Paras Dasot “when an artist delves deep in his creation then everything else except his ‘art’ and ‘soul’ tend to loose their meaning….the confluence of which leads to creation of a beautiful artwork.” It’s actually a deft fusion of art, science and culture. The painting upholds the idea that, Saraswati, the goddess of art in her dedication becomes so involved and lost that dress and other physical aspects becomes immaterial. It’s this involvement and dedication that endows her with divinity. What makes the painting more interesting is Husain’s use of the scientific principal ‘refraction’. This together with the use of fishes, peacock, and lotus as objects of adornment for the artwork makes the painting all the more intriguing. Another painting that created much furor is the painting of nude Bharatmata. Protests were made over Husain’s depiction of Bharatmata as a naked woman in an exposed position with names of Indian States on various parts of her bare body and her hand which supposedly stands for a part of North Kashmir, chopped off or invisible. Organisations like Vishva Hindu Parishad, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Bharatiya Janata Party, Bajrang Dal and Hindu Jagruti Samiti opposed to this painting as they believed that it caused harm to the sentiments of the Hindu.

The world of art being quintessentially different from that of the common men, confusion often arises among the masses to understand the artists’ ideas and thoughts. One of the primary issues that create confusion is ‘nudity’. Quoting Paras Dasot again, “nudity, in the context of art, is like having a glimpse of a mother giving birth to a child.” Most people fail to understand the subtle difference that is there between nudity in general and nudity in art. It’s extremely important to understand and appreciate this difference before criticizing a work of art otherwise society will run the risk of loosing the value and virtue associated with art. According to the acclaimed Bengali painter Jagannath Paul, “we are supposed to be a democratic country, but an artist does not even have the right to think here….we are surrounded by art, but sadly don’t know how to interpret it. Everything is taken at face value. When I look at Husain saab’s painting, I don’t look at whether it is a goddess or a layman, whether it is fully-clothed figure or a stark-nude depiction; I look at the confidence of his brush strokes and that makes me realize that this man has god speaking through him. Why will he insult that same god?” While Jogen Chowdhury another famed painter of the 21^st century India, believes that the opposition and intolerance is actually the fall out of ‘Talibanisation’ of India. He further says, “What is shocking in India is the growing intolerance of people towards creative peoples’ freedom of expression. The majority of people are waging a war against creativity. Taliban-style, all because one section of the citizenry who are religious fundamentalists see offence in harmless words and brush strokes.”

Maqbool Fida Husain has created a place for himself in the history of art and nothing can undo that now. Wherever he stays he will remain an Indian and his works will be appreciated for their true artistic values. Art is a gift of god and this beautiful form of expression has been made further beautiful by the master strokes of Husain, the art maestro. His name is now a metaphor to contemporary Indian art and his paintings speak for themselves. Rooted to the traditional culture and having an open and innovative mindset, Husain has become one of the most prominent figures in the Indian art industry. Enigmatic in character, maverick in ways of life, M F Husain is known for his vigorous appreciation of the human circumstances and that can be traced from his masterpieces.