M F Husain -- an artist who courted both fame and controversy

London, June 9 (PTI) Ebullient and eccentric at the same
time, barefoot painter Maqbool Fida Husain took Indian art to
the global stage with his cubist-inspired modern art but was
riled in controversy with his paintings on Hindu deities.
Synonymous with contemporary Indian art, the painter
was described as the 'Pablo Picasso' of India by Forbes
magazine.
Born on September 17, 1915 in Pandharpur in western
Indian state of Maharashtra, Husain was mainly a self-taught
artist and made ends meet in his initial days by painting
cinema hoardings in Mumbai.
Husain had once recounted that "We were paid barely four
or six annas per square foot. That is, for a 6x10 feet canvas,
we earned a few rupees.
"And apart from the New Theatre distributor, the others
did not pay us at all. As soon as I earned a little bit I used
to take off for Surat, Baroda and Ahmedabad to paint
landscapes".
Given his meagre earnings, Husain tried other jobs and
one of the best paying was a toy factory where he designed and
built toys.
The painter, who courted controversy over his paintings
of Hindu gods, had been living abroad in self-exile since
2006.
His paintings on Hindu goddesses — Durga and Saraswati -
invited the wrath of Hindu groups. His house was attacked
in 1998 by Hindu groups and his art works were vandalised.
In February 2006, Husain was charged with hurting
sentiments of people because of his nude portraits of Hindu
gods and goddesses.
A series of cases were brought against Husain and a court
case related to the alleged obscene depiction of Hindu
goddesses in his paintings resulted in issuance of a
non-bailable warrant against him after he failed to respond to
summons. There were also death threats.
Husain, who left the country stating that "matters are so
legally complicated that I have been advised not to return
home", had expressed a strong desire to come back, despite
fears that he may be arrested in connection with the cases
against him.
The artist had become well-known in the late 1940s and
joined the Progressive Artists' Group, founded by Francis
Newton Souza in 1947. The group was formed to explore a new
idiom for Indian art and was a clique of young artists wanting
to break with the nationalist traditions established by the
Bengal School of Art.
Honoured with the prestigious Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan,
Padma Vibhushan, Husain was the highest paid painter in India
with his single canvases fetching up to USD 2 million at a
Christie's auction. Husain's Battle of Ganga and Jamuna:
Mahabharata 12, fetched USD 1.6 million in 2008, setting
a world record at Christie's South Asian Modern and
Contemporary Art sale.
He had also worked on a few films, including 'Gaja
Gamini' with his muse actress Madhuri Dixit who was the
subject of a series of his paintings which he signed as Fida.
After a tribute to Dixit, the painter went on to make
Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities with Tabu. He had also made
paintings of actress Amrita Rao.