Husain, M. F. (1915-2011), was one of the most creative Indian painters of the 1900’s. His paintings are mostly executed in an Expressionist style, and they often depict characters from Hindu mythology, as well as scenes in the everyday life of Indian villagers. Husain’s work is explicitly grounded in an Indian tradition, while assimilating influences from other contemporary trends in art. His work includes drawings, oil paintings, large murals, and works combining photographs and print. In later years, he also turned his hand to motion pictures, photography, and installations.
Husain’s work reflects both the Hindu and Muslim cultures of village India. His art contains many symbols and images from literature and mythology, from sources such as the Hindu sacred books the Mahabharata and the Ramayana; the holy city of Varanasi; and the Hindu temples of Khajuraho. Husain’s style is a vigorous one, capturing energy and movement on canvas, and has often drawn comparisons to the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. Husain’s paintings tend to have clearly defined forms on flat backgrounds of one or two strong colors, such as red or blue or orange, with subtle changes of shade and hue. He makes much use of thick impasto (deep layers of paint).
When Husain was a boy, he received a strict Islamic religious education. It was through this education that he learned of Urdu poetry and calligraphy, both of which became strong interests of his. As a teenager, he attended evening classes at the art college in Indore, and then studied there full-time for a year. This was the last of his formal artistic training. He moved to Mumbai (then Bombay) in 1937 and became a painter of cinema billboards. The cinema was to become a major influence on his later work. He quickly became one of the best billboard-painters in Bombay. After this, he designed toys and children’s nursery furniture for several years. In the evenings, he painted his own work. He was brought to prominence in 1947, when he won an award at an exhibition of the Bombay Art Society. The following year, he participated in a group exhibition of the Progressive Artists’ Group, of which he was a founding member. He had his first solo exhibition in 1950, and soon gained recognition as one of the most important Indian artists of his time. In 1951, he had his first show outside India, in Paris, and since then his work has been shown throughout the world.
Maqbool Fida Husain was born on Sept. 17, 1915, in Pandharpur, which is now in Maharashtra, India. He grew up in Indore. His motion picture Through the Eyes of a Painter (1967) won the Golden Bear award for best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. He also wrote several books, including Husain’s Letters (1962), Poetry to Be Seen (1972), and Triangles (1976). Husain died on June 9, 2011.
