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Photograph of M. F. Husain

The Artists of the House · 15

M. F. Husain

1915 to 2011 · Pandharpur, Maharashtra

Painter of bold, vividly coloured narrative scenes in a modified Cubist style, and a founder of the Progressive Artists Group.

Photograph: Habib Rahman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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Born
1915
Died
2011
Birthplace
Pandharpur, Maharashtra
Medium
Oil painting, Watercolour, Film

Maqbool Fida Husain was born in Pandharpur in 1915 and moved to Bombay in the 1930s, where he painted cinema hoardings and designed toys. He attended the Sir J. J. School of Art but did not finish. In 1947 he became a founding member of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group, formed to move away from academic and revivalist styles.

He is known for bold narrative paintings in a modified Cubist style, on themes including Indian urban and rural life, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. His first solo exhibition was held in Zurich in 1952, and he was invited to the Sao Paulo Biennial in 1971. He received the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan, and won the Golden Bear for his film Through the Eyes of a Painter. He died in London in 2011.

A life, dated

AB / TIMELINE

  1. 1915

    Born in Pandharpur in what is now Maharashtra.

  2. 1947

    Became a founding member of the Progressive Artists Group in Bombay.

  3. 1952

    Held his first solo exhibition, in Zurich.

  4. 1967

    Won the Golden Bear for the short film Through the Eyes of a Painter at Berlin.

  5. 1973

    Received the Padma Bhushan.

  6. 1991

    Received the Padma Vibhushan.

  7. 2006

    Began a long period of exile from India, living mainly in Doha and London.

  8. 2011

    Died in London at the age of 95.

Held in public collections

AB / COLLECTIONS

  • Victoria and Albert Museum, London
  • Museum of Modern Art, New York, which acquired his film Through the Eyes of a Painter

With the house

1 work by M. F. Husain

Each listed with its medium, size, history and price in full.

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Works from the house

AB / WORKS

A square Kalamkari style painting: a turquoise face in profile with a white vaishnava tilak; inside the contour Shri Krishna Ji plays the flute, coiled by a patterned serpent, with devotees at the base and green and orange panels at the sides.

Devotional & narrative

Krishna and the serpent in lapis and gold

Ramesh Gorjala. A turquoise face in profile, the tilak white against it, looks quietly out of the canvas.

Sanjeev Sonpimpare, Embrace in two blues: a square abstract of two rounded blue figures in an embrace, one deep ultramarine and one pale cornflower, beside a large black-and-white printed disc and orange diagonal stripes.

Abstract

Embrace in two blues

Sanjeev Sonpimpare. Two rounded figures, one in deep ultramarine and one in pale cornflower blue, hold each other in an embrace; a smaller dark-blue form nestles against the pale figure's sh.

Swati, A rain-washed window onto green: a portrait-format painting of a rain-streaked window looking out onto green trees and a misty park, with water drops in white and black.

Landscape, nature & trees

A rain-washed window onto green

Swati. A view through a rain-covered window: a misty park in grey-green, dark trees massing at the right, and a pale path running across the middle distance with a single small.

A square Kalamkari style painting: an olive gold elephant face in heavy black outline, filled with pale green figures of dancing and standing Shri Ganesha Ji, a drummer and a trident, beside a gold band and a turquoise leaf panel.

Devotional & narrative

Ganesha in green and gold

Ramesh Gorjala. An olive gold ground carries a broad elephant face in a heavy black outline.

All works Abstract Figures Devotional Landscape Ravi Varma Press stones