M F Husain: A retrospective of the pilgrim of art

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M F Husain, a member of the Progressive Artists\’ Group, was a pilgrim of art who went from Pandharpur to Mumbai — a great example of great art coming from little India. By the Pothi team

While talking about emerging art, it is best not to talk about artists who are already the toasts of the art world. However, Maqbool Fida Husain\’s story is relevant because he is truly one of the best examples of emerging art after Independence, which saw the Progressive Artists Group take India to the world. While they used many western idioms to inform their work, the truth is they were Indians who saw themselves as world citizens with a unique sensibility.

Husain’s life started in the small temple town of Pandharpur, on the banks of the Chandrabhaga River in Solāpur district, Maharashtra. A place of pilgrimage, this town is home to the the Vithoba temple, which attracts over a million Hindu pilgrims during the major yātrā in the month of Ashadh (June–July). Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Bhakti saint, is believed to have spent a period of seven days at the Vithobha Temple. Apparently, some of the greatest saints of Maharashtra like Sant Dnyaneshwar, Sant Tukaram, Sant Namdev, Sant Eknath, Sant Nivruttinath, Sant Muktabai, Sant Chokhamela, Sant Savata Mali, Sant Narhari Sonar, Sant Gora Kumbhar and Sant Gajanan Maharaj worshipped Vithoba. For those of you who may not be aware, this is the town from where the warkaris start their Palkhi procession on foot all the way to Pune, a distance of 210 kilometres.

The spiritual tradition of Pandharpur greatly inspired Husain. While his works of Hindu goddesses were controversial, it was not his intention to hurt religious sentiments. In fact, he had a great understanding of Indian history and an abiding interest in Indian mythology. He saw the Hindu goddesses as perfect symbols of beauty and power. His work was an ode to them.

Husain was born on 17 September 1915 in a Suleymani Bohra family. He did not start off as a painter, but developed a taste in art while studying calligraphy when he stayed at a madrasa in Baroda. He went on to attend the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art in Mumbai and received a formal education.

However, Husain was able to buck trends because of his unique background. When he decided to move to Mumbai to follow his artistic dream, it wasn’t an easy pursuit. Often, he faced penury and had to sleep wherever he could. In order to survive as an artist, he began painting cinema posters in Mumbai. He supplanted his income by working for a toy company, where he not only designed toys, but also built them. And if he had the money, he would return to his beloved Gujarat to paint landscapes.

Husain’s strong and definitive lines were a direct result of working on large billboards for Bollywood, which was then growing at a brisk pace, as cinema became the major pastime of the nation. It was the 1930s when Husain began to perfect his skills and also develop a style that was bold, energetic and avant garde. A new expressionism was at the heart of his practice.

With the formation of the Progressive Artists Group, which had luminaries of this new Indian art like F.N Souza, S.H Raza and V.S Gaitonde, this group of young artists broke away from the nationalist traditions established by the Bengal School of Art and created a voice that eventually put India on the international art map.

While Husain’s story is well known, it is very important for us because he inspires us to do the work we do – to find emerging artists from small towns and villages and provide them with a platform. Ideally, artists should not have to uproot themselves from their roots to find opportunity. Metropolitan cities should not be the only centres of art. If Indian art can bloom in various corners, if emerging artists can thrive even in the hinterland, we would have a far more dynamic artistic culture. We would all be enriched.

Here are some the artists seminal as well as popular works: