|
Art is surely a gift of God and one of the most
beautiful forms of ex-pression. Blessed with this
endowment is one such artist who needs no
introduction. His name is a metaphor to contemporary
Indian art and his paintings speak for themselves.
With his feet well grounded in the traditional roots
and a mindset so open and fierce, he has become one
of the most prominent figures in the Indian art
industry. He is none other than Maqbool Fida Husain,
more popularly, M.F.Hussain. He is one of the most
enigmatic artists of India who is known for his
vigorous appreciation of the human circumstances and
the traces of it can be found in his masterpieces.
Born in 1915 at Pandharpur in Maharashtra; Hussain
comes from a traditional Muslim background. As a
child, Hussain learnt the art of calligraphy and
loved to read poetries while he resided with his
uncle in Baroda. After painting many countryside
landscapes and completing his schooling in Indore,
Hussain decided to move to Mumbai to make his career
in art. He joined the J.J. school of arts and
started to earn his living by painting billboards
for feature films. In 1947, Hussain won an award for
his paintings at the annual exhibition of the Bombay
art society and this marked the beginning of a
vibrant colorful career ahead waiting for this art
maestro. Hussain did a lot of art experimentation in
his early years by blending different ethnic and
mythological themes to create luminous art forms.
His creativity, style and innovation in paintings
have made him reach the acme in Indian art. F.N.
Souza, a member of The Progressive Artist's Group,
which was formed to give new dimensions to Indian
art, invited Hussain to become a member of it in
1948. By 1955 Hussain went on to become one of the
foremost artists in India and was awarded the grand
‘Padma Shri’. In 1971, Hussain was invited along
with Pablo Picasso at the Sao Paulo Biennial. Apart
from the several solo exhibitions, Hussain has many
studios in major metropolitans of the country. In
1973, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, in 1989, the
Padma Vibhushan and finally was nominated to the
Rajya Sabha in 1986. Hussain has also made feature
films, like "Through the Eyes of a Painter" and "Gajagamini”,
the former winning the Golden Bear Award at the
Berlin Film Festival. Hussain has also written
lyrics for two songs of the film Meenaxi:
|
|
.jpg){kind=logo}
