M. F. Husain
Maqbul Fida Husain ( Maqbool Fida Husain also anglicized, mostly MF Husain; Devanagari: मकबूल फ़िदा हुसैन; born September 17, 1915 in Pandharpur, Maharashtra, † June 9, 2011 in London) was an Indian painter, graphic artist, photographer and filmmaker. He was one of the most prestigious and internationally recognized Indian artists of the 20th century.
His works are painted in a modified Cubist style. He has served as subjects - among other factors, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Mother Teresa, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the British colonial rule, Madhuri Dixit and motives of urban and rural life in India - mostly with painting series.
After a long and successful career came some of his works in the late 1990s, the focus of Hindu nationalist extremists and M. F. Husain left India after his life was threatened.
Life and career
Maqbul Fida Husain was born into a Muslim Indian family. His mother died when he was one and a half years old. His father married again, and they moved to Indore, where Husain went to school. In 1935, he went to Bombay at the Sir JJ School of Art, he started there to earn his living by painting film posters. In the late 1940s, he became known as an artist. In 1947, he joined the Progressive Artists Group, a company founded by Francis Newton Souza group of artists who had a break with artistic conventions and the emergence of an Indian avant-garde with an international goal. In 1952, M. F. Husain 's first solo exhibition abroad, particularly in Zurich. In the following years his work has been shown in Europe and the United States. 1956/57, made the acquaintance Husain interested in film by Roberto Rossellini and traveled with the director in his filming of India Matri Bhumi by India.
His first film, the documentary Strip Through the Eyes of a Painter won the Berlinale Golden Bear in 1967 in the short film category.
Maqbul Fida Husain was the highest prize painter of India; his canvas paintings received up to $ 2 million at recent Christie's auction. In recognition of his achievements Husain in 1987 for six years in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, was appointed.
The actress Madhuri Dixit was his muse for a series of paintings, he turned to her and the film Gaja Gamini. The actress Tabu he produced the film Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities. His autobiography is to be filmed under the title The Making of the Painter.
1966 Padma Shri, he was awarded, Padma Bhushan 1973 and 1991 he also received the Padma Vibhushan.
In the 1990s, a controversy broke out around some paintings M. F. Husain. The controversial works date from the 1970s and depict naked Hindu deities. After the images were printed in 1996 in a Hindi magazine, escalated the public uproar and members of the Hindu nationalist party Shiv Sena invaded Husain house, where they destroyed works of art. Then Husain went for a time into exile in London. A complaint against him because of the " promotion of hostility between different groups by painting Hindu goddesses Durga and Saraswati of in a manner violating the feelings of Hindus " was rejected by the Delhi High Court in 2004. Husain was arrested in early 2006 in the same issue of " violation of popular feeling " for a short time. In some cities in India injunctions against exhibitions of his works were obtained. Protests against him also led to the closure of an exhibition of his works in London. The artist then lived mostly with his son in Dubai, while in India the seizure of his property was continued.
In response to these arguments have admirer of Husain, directed at other Shashi Tharoor, a petition to the Indian government to give it the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award. In support, they argue that M. F. Husain's life and work can be understood as an allegory for the changing modalities of the secular in modern India and the challenges that brings the history of the nation for many with in the meantime. It was now the right and crucial time to honor him for his courage and dedication to the cultural renaissance of his beloved country.
In September 2008 the Supreme Court of India Hindu nationalist attempts at prosecution Husain for his paintings of naked Hindu deities rejected permanently.
In March 2010, he accepted the citizenship of Qatar. In the early morning of June 9, 2011 Husain died in London of a heart attack and was on the next day buried in the Brookwood Cemetery.