M F HUSAIN (1915 - 2011)

From a Chennai based collector well acquainted with M. F. Husain

Maqbool Fida Husain has become synonymous with Indian art. He is a living legend, a maverick, a performer and the one responsible for making Indian modernism a global phenomenon. Husain is unmistakably one of the few artists who have become cult figures in contemporary India. At the age of 92, his undying spirit and vigour is admirable.
Husain was born in Padharpur, Maharashtra and spent a large part of his early years in Indore. By the late 1940s he was an involved member of the Progressive Artists group of Bombay. The Indian village became a motif in his work. The horse became a trademark series from his oeuvre; and his use of the female form in many avatars including goddesses from myth and reality is legendary. His political consciousness triggered some of the most topical images in art history. His prodigious work and effortless expressiveness has become part of the mythology about him.
Husain paints in an epic style characterised by line drawings and expressionistic colours. His most memorable series are his Horses, Mother Teresa and The Raj Series amongst others.

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