17/09/2015
celebating 100th bithday of M F HUSSAIN.....
Maqbool Fida Husain commonly known as MF Husain, 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. In 1967, he received the National Film Award for Best Experimental Film for Through The Eyes of a Painter. 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.
Husain was associated with Indian modernism in the 1940s. His early association with the Progressive Artist's Group, or "PAG of Bombay" used modern technique, and was inspired by the "new" India after The Partition of 1947. His narrative paintings, executed in a modified Cubiststyle, can be caustic and funny as well as serious and sombre. His themes—sometimes treated in series—include topics as diverse as Mohandas K. Gandhi, Mother Teresa, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the British raj, and motifs of Indian urban and rural life. Early in his painting career, and until his death, he enjoyed depicting the lively and free spirit of horses in many of his works. Often referred to as the "Picasso of India," M.F. Husain is the most celebrated and internationally recognized Indian artist of the 20th century. Husain is primarily known for his paintings, but is also known for his drawings and his work as a printmaker, photographer, and filmmaker. Some of his later works stirred controversy, as they depicted traditional Deities of India in non traditional ways.
M. F. Husain was born on 17 Sept. 1915 in Pandharpur to a Sulaymani Bohra family who trace their roots back toGujarat within the last 200 years, and then originally to Yemen. Primarily self-taught, Husain painted cinema posters inMumbai early in his career. To earn extra money, he worked for a toy company designing and building toys. He often travelled to Gujarat to paint landscapes when he could afford to.
He got married to Fazila in 1941. The couple had two daughters Raisa and Aqueela and three sons, Mustafa, Shamshad and Owais.
1940-1965:-Husain first became well known as an artist in the late 1940s. He was one of the founding members of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group originally envisioned by Francis Newton Souza. This was a clique of young artists who wished to break with the nationalist traditions established by the Bengal school of art and to encourage an Indian avant-garde, engaged at an international level. The artists cite "The Partition" of India and Pakistan 14 August 1947, with its resulting religious rioting and heavy loss of life as their reason for forming The Progressive Artist's Group in Bombay in December, 1947. The artists saw the Partition as a "turning point" for India, and their new style of art was urged on by, and was also a turning point for, (modern) Indian Art. Husain's first solo exhibit was in 1952 in Zurich. His first U.S.A. exhibit was at India House in New York in 1964.[In 1966, he was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri.
SOURCE-WIKIPEDIA