Previous Editions: A for Abstract Art | Z for Zeng Jing
M is for MF Husain
It's MF Husain’s 100th birth anniversary. Some of you may have noticed. Google India certainly took the trouble to remind us. Now if you wish to pick up a bit of the fine art of taking art, it helps to know a few things about a big big name like MF Husain. And hence this M for MF edition.
Let’s begin with some memories of MF you might want to make a note of.
First things first
Maqbool Fida Husain was commonly known as MF Husain. He was a Modern Indian painter of international acclaim, and a founding member of The Progressive Artists Group of Bombay (PAG). He also directed a few movies.
Did you know?
It took MF Husain just two months to paint the 29 canvases that make up his famous Mahabharata series.
MF, the filmmaker
M.F. Husain made his first film, Through the Eyes of a Painter, in 1967. The film was shown at the Berlin Film Festival and won a Golden Bear. In 2004, he directed Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities, which was screened in the Marché du Film section of the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
From rags...
Husain had come to Mumbai in 1937. In the initial days of his struggle he earned 36 paisa or 6 annas a day by painting hoardings.
To records...
In early 2008, Husain's Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata 12, a large diptych, from the Hindu epic, fetched $1.6 million, setting a world record at Christie's South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art sale.
The final word
“I wanted to use her [Dixit] as a vehicle to take art to the maximum number of people. And the best way to reach people was to paint a superstar.” – Maqbool Fida Husain