By Shehzad Pooanwalla,
“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” ~Henry Ward Beecher
These lines aptly describe Maqbool Fida Hussain’s iconic career as an artist and more importantly his journey as a humble pilgrim, who walked barefoot in the sands of love and creativity.
Born in the Pandharpur, Maharashtra in 1915 Hussain did not age ; he only grew- as an artist and as a human being par excellence. And this is why he never retired from painting- for him painting and expressing himself was like breathing. Hussain’s paintings went on to fetch huge sums of money yet his art was unblemished by commercial considerations. He continued to be a simple nomad, for whom the journey of discovering the meaning of life through art, was itself, his destination. Much like his art, Hussain himself was a product of global culture which cannot be contained within man made boundaries of nationality and religion. Yet India and Indians occupied a special place in his heart.
[Photo Courtesy: tribuneindia.com]
In the 1940’s Hussain, who had been trained at the J J School of Arts, started off by joining the Progressive Artists’ Group, founded by Francis Newton Souza. He went on to paint some of the most remarkable works which earned him several accolades like the Padma Vibhushan and a nomination to the Rajya Sabha amongst others. He dabbled in cinema as well which included unconventional films like ‘Through the Eyes of a Painter’, ‘Gaj Gamini’ and ‘Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities’.
Controversies always courted Hussain. In 1996, his paintings originally painted in the 1970s were interpreted as anti-Hindu. In 1998 Husain’s house was attacked by groups like Bajrang Dal and his art works were vandalised. The Shiv Sena endorsed the attack. In 2004, the Delhi High Court dismissed the complaints against him yet in February 2006, Husain was charged with hurting sentiments of people because of his ‘nude portraits of Hindu gods and goddesses’. Organizations like the VHP backed with the tacit support of the BJP made life difficult for the artist by virtually killing his artistic spirit and subjected him to a spate of legal cases and death threats. Following this he was on a self imposed exile from around 2006. In January, 2010, he was offered the citizenship of Qatar, which he accepted. But there can still be no doubt on his Indianness and his contribution to the resurgence of art in India. But did he get his due from his own motherland is a question that begs to be answered?
The Prime Minister has aptly described M F’s passing away to be a “national loss”. But to me, his passing away in London away from India, is a reflection of the triumph of hatred over tolerance, of mobocracy over democracy and of right-wingism over secularism. Perhaps we can collectively redeem ourselves of the grave sins we have perpetrated on this great soul by not only awarding him a Bharat Ratna posthumously but also dedicating a huge memorial and art gallery in his memory that will symbolize this nation’s resolve to promote liberal arts and to ensure that right wing fundamentalism will not claim one more Hussain in this country. This much we owe to Hussain and our Constitutional commitment to secularism.
There are several messages that one gets from Hussain’s life and art. Hussain was a perennial vagabond and his art reflected that- it was always in the search of new horizons but never gave an impression of loss of hope. His life and art always reflected optimism never defeatism. He celebrated difficulties, never got worn out by them. He was truly secular in his approach and mindset but was unfortunately branded by political motivated groups who wanted to capitalize on his popularity and run their narrow minded political agendas. They managed to take Hussain out of India but never managed to take India out of Hussain.
Hussain always carried a paint brush along with him. He was always in search on a new canvass where ideas and colours could flow. Those who cheered when Hussain was forced into exile must sit back and analyze the colossal damage they have done to very constitutionalism in India. And ironically while they did manage to silence his brush, they ensured that his ideas and his spirit become immortalized.
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The author is law graduate from Pune’s Indian Law Society and political activist.