The World Famous Artist Was Banished From His Country
In response to Dancing Elephants prompt 3 of 52
How I met MF Hussain
One day I went to a 5 Star Hotel in Delhi. I was meeting friends over lunch. Little did I know that a painting exhibition of a world-famous artist was being held there. There would be many people going to see it and there would be dignitaries and celebrities galore.
Large luxury cars stopped at the porch and I began to see people coming in and paintings being sold very fast.
I told my friends that we should also go and see the paintings as there were so many famous people and bouncers looking after them.
We reached the hall of paintings and wanted to enter it. The gateman told us that only after the dignitaries and celebrities leave we could go in because at the moment people were there by invitation only.
We were disappointed but there was no reason to hang out there. We began to leave for the Chinese restaurant in the hotel.
Just then at the entrance of the exhibition, a man came in. He was very humbly dressed and was bare feet.
I thought the bouncers would throw him out. What we saw was astonishing. Celebrities came to welcome him and clapped for him.
He was the great artist Maqbool Fida Hussain.
We were looking in awe of him and so he beckoned to the gatemen and asked who we were. He was told that we were visitors but had dropped in without an invitation and would be permitted later after the celebrities left.
Hussain invited us in and indicated that we could see the exhibition.
This was the first and last time I met MF Hussain.
I saw many exhibitions of his after this and read about him in the newspapers and saw the news on TV.
He was a film board painter on the roads. The film industry started doing well in India and that was a boon to Hussain. He suddenly shot to fame with his vibrant colored paintings. He was later associated with the Bombay Progressive Artists Group.
His famous paintings were about the subject of horses. I do not know why he was inspired by horses.
He was called Picasso of India by Forbes.
His paintings and films led him to many controversies during his life.
MF Hussain’s background
Achievements
MF Hussain was born in 1915. His career started by painting billboards for the film industry.
He later got the highest national awards in India.
- Padma Shri (1966) by the Government of India.
- Padma Bhushan (1973) by the Government of India.
- Padma Vibhushan (1991) by the Government of India.
MF Hussain was on the Roll
Husain began to capture the essence of beauty in other religious cultures.
In 1952, his first solo exhibition was held in Zurich. In 1964, his first US exhibit was at India House situated in New York. In 1971.
He was a special invitee along with Pablo Picasso at the Sao Paulo Biennial.
In the year 1986, Husain was nominated to the Rajya Sabha(The higher house of Parliament in India.)
Controversies, attacks, and challenges of Hussain
Life is not easy for people when they become famous. They make mistakes. They become self-confident and sometimes arrogant.
Complaints were filed against Husain for promoting enmity between different groups by painting Hindu goddesses — Durga and Saraswati nude. His paintings hurt the religious sentiments of Hindu nationalist groups which launched a protest against him.
He was called ‘M.F. Husain: A Painter or Butcher.
In 1998, Husain’s house was attacked and his artworks were destroyed. However, the criminal proceedings were cleared by the court.
In 2000 M.F. Husain then produced and directed many movies and called the famous actor Madhuri Dixit his muse.
Again one of his films was pulled out as this time one of the songs ‘Noor-un-Ala-Noor’ hurt the religious sentiments. of Muslims. Many words of the song had been directly taken from the Quran. The film was withdrawn and he was attacked. Later the same film got many awards from critics.
Several lawsuits were filed against him alleging his obscene art of the Goddess Durga.
He was commissioned to create 32 paintings depicting Indian History but because of the uproar in India, he had to run away and was in exile in 2006. He finished 8 paintings before his death in 2011.
He was also commissioned to create paintings on Arab civilization by Qatar’s first lady Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned.
M.F. Husain had no choice but to live in a self-imposed exile from 2006 until his death in 2011.
He quoted- “They can put me in a jungle. Still, I can create”- MF Hussain.
Several warrants were also issued against the artist but he could not appear at a hearing, but later the warrant was suspended.
During his exile, he lived in Doha and in London. He expressed that he wanted to return to India as he was old and wanted to die in his own country.
In 2010, a year before his death, M.F. Husain had to surrender his Indian passport as he was not allowed to come back to India.
He quoted- “I’m an Indian-origin painter. I will remain so to my last breath.”- MF Hussain
Such a famous artist had to live outside his country and die outside his county. At 95 he was old and broken. His children had to go to Royal Brompton Hospital in London where he died on June 9th and was buried in Brookwood Cemetery on June 10, 2011.
MF Hussain’s famous quotation “ I only give expression to the instincts from my soul.” — MF Hussain
Inspiration from known and unknown artists
I was inspired by MF Hussain's paintings. He was acknowledged by the world. There are several artists who are unknown and who will never be known. They received no acknowledgment.
The artists who created the Taj Mahal the wonder of the world are rumored to have had their hands cut by the Moghul Kings who never wanted them to replicate a monument like that.
I recently saw beautiful artistic paintings on the walls of the King's Palace in Bangkok. No one knew the artist's name. I will just add a picture so you get a glimpse of it.
There are many street artists who have had no success and luck has not picked up their natural talent and flair for painting but they are great artists. I am inspired by many of them too.
To wrap up
Artists never had an easy life. It is easy to appreciate the art of the artists but very difficult to comprehend the difficulties in their life.
Very few artists get appreciated all their lives. So many are unknown artists. They look for work, live in poor circumstances, and are never known.
Let us celebrate the known and unknown artists.
“The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.” — Alberto Giacometti
Thank you Lorena Sharing Randomly for this beautiful prompt. It was in my heart to write about art and you gave me a chance to do so
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