Maqbool Fida Husain was one of India's most well-known artists, famed throughout the world for his incredible paintings done during his lifetime. M. F. Husain's paintings are so well-known that Forbes magazine has dubbed him the "Picasso of India." As one of the most significant founding members of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group, Husain was instrumental in modernising Indian art. Husain dabbled with printmaking, photography, and filmmaking during the course of his illustrious career. Some of the films he directed were critically acclaimed. He also directed 'Gaja Gamini' and 'Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities,' and received the prestigious National Film Award for Best Experimental Film for his film 'Through the Eyes of a Painter.' The latter was screened at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and received positive reviews. Husain, while being a well-known and respected painter, faced harsh criticism in the latter stages of his career. His naked drawings of Hindu goddesses drew widespread condemnation, forcing him to seek shelter in places such as Qatar and England. Husain was never able to return to his homeland, and the discussion about his exile raged for days after his death.
Early career
M. F. Husain began his work as a painter of movie billboards. By the early 1930s, Hindi cinema was booming, with up to 200 films released each year, and the advertising industry was in desperate need of high-quality painters. Husain took advantage of the situation to take care of his everyday necessities. He also began working for a toy firm, where he created and produced various unique toys. He kept in touch with his Sir J. J. School of Painting classmates and awaited the ideal chance to contribute to the evolution of Indian art.
M. F. Husain and his classmates from the Sir J. J. School of Art aspired to disrupt the Bengal school of art's centuries-old heritage. They realised that in order to bring Indian art to a global audience, they needed to push artists to embrace modernism. Because many innocent lives were lost during the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, Husain saw it as an opportunity to establish a movement. The Progressive Artists' Group, which Husain and his friends founded in 1947, became a force to be reckoned with, claiming that the partition had given birth to a "new India." Husain and his friends urged their fellow artists to embrace new ideas, and as a result, The Progressive Artists' Group, which they formed in 1947, became a force to be reckoned with. The movement quickly gained traction, and the group swelled in size, eventually becoming a watershed moment in Indian art history.
Childhood and Early Life
M.F. Husain was born on September 17, 1915, into a Sulaymani Bohra family in Pandharpur, Maharashtra. Husain's mother died when he was only a year and a half old. Husain's father remarried after a few months and relocated to Indore, where he finished his education. Husain lived in Baroda for a few years during his adolescence, where he learned the technique of calligraphy. He gradually developed an interest in painting as a result of his exposure to calligraphy and decided to pursue a career as an artist. In 1935, he relocated to Bombay (now Mumbai) and enrolled in the prestigious Sir J. J. School of Art.
Controversies
Husain initially showed his art in Zurich in 1952, and then for the first time in the United States in 1964. Husain's early career was marked with popularity and admiration, but a substantial amount of his painting career was marred by controversies. Various Hindu nationalist parties frequently targeted him for injuring religious sensitivities. Some of his controversial paintings from the 1970s were published in 1996 by the Hindi monthly magazine 'Vichar Mimansa.' Many Hindus and Hindu groups were outraged by Husain's paintings depicting naked Hindu goddesses, and eight criminal complaints were filed against him. Many of his artworks were defaced and his home was targeted two years later.
In 2006, he was charged with injuring people's feelings by creating a nude image of Bharatmata (Mother India). Husain was compelled to withdraw the picture from many auctions, and an apology from him was required. The painting, however, was later auctioned for Rs 80 lakh. Husain eventually began receiving death threats from a variety of strong organisations, and he had no alternative but to flee India.
One of his paintings was auctioned for $1.6 million at Christie's in 2008, making him India's highest-paid painter at the time. A single canvas by M. F. Husain recently sold for almost $2 million at a Christie's auction. During his time in Qatar, Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned, Qatar's first lady, commissioned him to create two paintings: one depicting the history of Arab culture and the other depicting the history of Indian civilization. In 2008, he was given a commission to paint 32 paintings reflecting India's history. Before his body gave up on this materialistic world, he could only accomplish eight.
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