M F Hussain: Painting the Art of India

Maqbool Fida Husain, known as M F Husain, was in the news more for the controversies created due to some of the paintings. Born in India on September 17, 1915, this wonderful artist owned a score of paintings under his name. 

M F Husain's art is fascinating and his canvases are impressive. And it is no wonder that he was called as Picasso of India. In fact, he was originally influenced by the great German painter Emil Nolde. He had got much inspiration from Austrian artists Oskar Kokoschka: both of these artists were well-known expressionists painters. 

The career graph of M F Husain

With having all the colours of a rainbow in his personality, M. F. Hussain was a mysterious person even for those who lived near to him. He was a painter, a photographer, a film producer and a member of the parliament of India.

Experimenting was his habit and rejoicing the art of painting was his natural temperament. From his early career, he started using the subjects of mythological themes.

His paintings are believed to capture the very beautiful mythological events onto canvases. Starting his career doing film posters, he would become known as an artist in the 1940s and 50s.

He was a leading member of the group known as Progressive Artists’ Group formed by another well-known Indian artist, Frances Newton Souza. This was a progressive group where the artists tried to go away from the old Indian tradition of painting, mainly influenced by the Bengal School of Painting.

M F Husain was an expressionist and his favourite subjects were women and horses. He tried depicting many other subjects painted with his outspoken brushstrokes and speaking colours.

M F. Husain was nominated in Upper house of Parliament in India, too, where he served for one term of six years. The government of India has awarded him as one of the outstanding artists by giving him the prestigious award known as the Padma Shree. 

Undoubtedly, MF Husain was India's best known contemporary painter. He died in London on June 9, 2011. On his death, the art lovers of the world in general and the Indian people, in particular, should grieve for two reasons. 

Firstly, it was so because even at the age of 95, he was very much active. Had lots of painting left in him, even many of them are incomplete. 

Secondly, such a great painter had died in exile. He was always unhappy with the way he was treated. [By Ayaz360 at en.wikipedia (Transferred from en.wikipedia by SreeBot) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons ]