MF Hussain: The Legend Shrouded Within Controversy
Maqbool Fida Hussain (MF Hussain) is one of the most celebrated and internationally recognised Indian artists of the twentieth century.
A name that bacha-bacha have heard, here’s your seconds-guide to “Aakhir hai kaun MF Hussain??”
1. MF Hussain is an artist. More specifically, he is a Cubist known for his bold, vibrantly coloured paintings in a self-constructed Cubist style.
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2. He was born on September 15, 1915, in Maharashtra, India.
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3. His first job after moving to Mumbai in 1935 was to design and paint billboard advertisements for Bollywood movies.
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4. His work gained recognition when his paintings were selected for the Bombay Art Exhibition. This led him to become one of the founding members of the Progressive Artists Group.
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5. Also called “Picasso of India,” his artistic palette created works that could bite you, make you laugh, make you think for hours in the end, or bring tears to your eyes!
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6. He usually painted on Indian themes – from influential figures such as MK Gandhi and Mother Teresa to Epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata.
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7. The celebrated painter was, however, not a stranger to controversy. His unconventional treatment of Hindu deities rubbed many backs the wrong way. His being a secular Muslim wasn’t much help either.
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8. He once painted an image of “Mother India” as a bright-red nude woman in the shape of the Indian subcontinent. This painting came to be known as “Bharatmata” and became one of his best-known paintings.
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9. Weighed down by several lawsuits and death threats by Hindu extremists, Hussain moved to London in a self-imposed exile. “Matters are so legally complicated that I have been advised not to return home”, he said while leaving the country.
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10. He was awarded the Golden Bear Award in 1967 at the Berlin International Film Festival for his work named “Through the Eyes of a Painter”.
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11. An avid fan of actress Madhuri Dixit, who he called his muse, MF Hussain painted a series of paintings, “Fida,” dedicated to her.
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A visionary for his times, MF Hussain was a painter that made masterpieces that were a bit too modern for an audience with a mindset that was a bit too obsolete. Though he was in a self-imposed exile, he expressed his desire to return to his mother nation quite a few times.
He passed away on June 9, 2011, in London, England.
Blog Edited By Ritika Gupta
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