All Art
M.f Husain (b 1915)
Maqbool Fida Husain, known as M.F. Husain (1915-2011), was one of India’s most eminent artists. Born in Pandharpur, his early years were spent in Indore. Husain began his career as a painter of cinema hoardings after attending art school in Bombay (now Mumbai). Using freehand drawing and vibrant colour, he depicted Indian subject matter in the style of contemporary European art movements, particularly Cubism.
Husain is associated with Indian modernism in the 1940s. His early association with the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group used modern technique, and was inspired by the "new" India after the partition of 1947. His narrative paintings, executed in a modified Cubist style, can be caustic and funny as well as serious and sombre. His themes—sometimes treated in series—include topics as diverse as Gandhi, Mother Teresa, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the British Raj, and motifs of Indian urban and rural life.
Husain was a special invitee along with Pablo Picasso at the Sao Paulo Biennial, Brazil in 1971. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1986.
He was awarded the Padma Shree in 1966, the Padma Bhushan in 1973 & the Padma Vibhushan in 1991, along with the National Award in 2004.
