Maqbool Fida Husain 1915 – 2011

One of the most celebrated and internationally recognised Indian artists of the 20th century.

Husain was born on 17 September 1915 in Pandharpur, Bombay Province in a Suleymani Bohra family. He picked up taste in art through studying calligraphy while he stayed at a Madrasa in Baroda. Husain attended the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art in Mumbai but couldn't finish his schooling. Early in his career, Husain painted cinema posters in Mumbai. To earn additional income, he worked for a toy company designing and building toys. He often travelled to Gujarat to paint landscapes whenever he could afford to travel.

Husain developed his painting skills in the 1930s, painting billboards for the growing Bollywood film industry. 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 art exhibition was in 1952 in Zürich. His first U.S. exhibit was at India House in New York City in 1964.

Husain was a special invitee along with Pablo Picasso at the São Paulo Biennial, Brazil in 1971. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1986. He married Fazila Bibi (d. 1998) in 1941, they had six children: four sons (including artists Shamshad and Owais) and two daughters - Raisa, his muse and an actress and costume designer in his films and Aqueela, his muse.

Although he was raised in a Muslim household, Husain sought freedom to capture the essence of beauty in other religious cultures, for which he received a backlash. His paintings allegedly hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus, which beginning in the 1990s mounted a campaign of protest against him. The paintings in question were created in 1970, but did not become an issue until 1996, when they were printed in Vichar Mimansa, a Hindi monthly magazine.

In February 2006, Husain was charged with "hurting sentiments of people" because of his nude portraits of Hindu gods and goddesses. In addition, on 6 February 2006 issue, India Today, a national English weekly published an advertisement titled "Art For Mission Kashmir". This advertisement contains a painting of {Bharatmata} (Mother India) as a nude woman posed across a map of India with the names of Indian States on various parts of her body.

Husain became the best-paid painter in India, his highest-selling piece fetching $1.6 million at a 2008 Christie's auction. Husain lived in self-imposed exile from 2006 until his death. He generally lived in Doha and summered in London. In 2008 Husain was commissioned to create 32 large-scale paintings of Indian history. He finished 8 before his death. In 2010, he was conferred Qatari nationality, and he surrendered his Indian passport.

At the age of 92 Husain was given the prestigious Raja Ravi Varma award by the government of Kerala. The announcement led to controversy in Kerala and some cultural organisations campaigned against the granting of the award and petitioned the Kerala courts. In 2010, the Jordanian Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre named Husain as one of the 500 most influential Muslims. 

M. F. Husain died, aged 95, on 9 June 2011, following a heart attack. He had been unwell for several months. He died at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London and was buried in Brookwood Cemetery on 10 June 2011.

Chemould Gallery

Now a byword in the art world, Gallery Chemould ran for years on a wing and a prayer. Those who knew Chemould well knew that the wing belonged to Kekoo Gandhy, the mercurial entrepreneur who believed in modern Indian art when museums thought that the works of the Progressives should be hung in the toilet, if at all. Khorshed Gandhy said the prayer through clenched teeth, as she held the whole thing together. In 1947 it had awarded the “Chemould Prize” of 50 rupees for the most outstanding work in a medium of modern Indian art. 16 years later, it had created an official space for reflection, communication and criticism of modern art and became one of the catalysts in the Bombay art scene.

The story begins in the 1940s when Kekoo Gandhy decided to set up a picture-framing store on Princess Street, Bombay. Chemould Frames attracted the likes of KH Ara, MF Husain, SH Raza, FN Souza, and others who called themselves the Progressive Artists Group. Husain sold his first canvas from that very window. Kekoo Gandhy brought in the few rich buyers there were in those days including the scientist Homi Bhabha and the industrialist Naval Tata. At the same time, Chemould tried to expand its exhibition activities, which were triggered by the success of some of its informal shows. In August 1961, a show by Husain in the newly opened showroom on Princess Street, met with so much interest that sales expanded from 5 000 to 20 000 rupees a year.

In the 1960s, the manager of the Jehangir Art Gallery invited his friends Kekoo and Khorshed to start an art gallery in an empty space on the first floor. On 16 September 1963, Gallery Chemould opened its doors to the world with an exhibition of paintings by KK Hebbar, VS Gaitonde, Laxman Pai and several others from the growing community of Indian painters. It became the training ground for the eyes of the city.

Eventually Chemould moved to an expansive new space: Chemould Prescott Road, now run by their daughter, Shireen Jungalwala. The gallery’s new avatar continues to champion modern art with a range of brilliant artists from Vivan Sundaram through Neelima Sheikh and Atul and Anju Dodiya, to Jitesh Kallat and Reena Saini-Kallat.

There are many reasons for Chemould’s success story. It is closely linked to the Gandhy’s distinct symbiosis. “Khorshed ran it while Kekoo dreamt, talked, shared his infectious enthusiasms, and formed coalitions and platforms”, as Ranjit Hoskote wrote retrospectively (Hoskote 2012). Due to Korshed’s conscientious business sense and Kekoo’s high level of networking, such as in the Rotary Club or the Bombay Art Society, they were able to introduce artists profitably with collectors. Influential people from Bombay visited regularly, such as Homi Bhabha, who became one of Chemould’s first customers and supporters of modern art. Husain’s connection is reflected in the design of the old logo and font.

The Chemould Gallery also made a significant contribution to creating general art awareness in Bombay, and was continually involved in the Indian art scene, promoting talent and offering artists and art lovers a meeting place where dialogues could be initiated. Its space was occupied by a bigger idea than buying and selling art in commerce. It was inhabited by the idea of building friendly and personal relationships with buyers, prospects and the common man.

The Progressive Artists' Group (PAG), was a group of modern artists, mainly based in Bombay, from its formation in 1947. Though it lacked any particular style, there might be said to have been a move towards a synthesis of influences from Indian art history together with styles prevalent in Europe and North America during the first half of the 20th century, including Post-Impressionism, Cubism and Expressionism.

The Progressive Artists' Group (PAG) was formed by six founder members, F. N. Souza, S. H. Raza, M. F. Husain, K. H. Ara, H. A. Gade, and S. K. Bakre (the only sculptor in the group). Others, who later got associated with the group included Ram Kumar, Akbar Padamsee and Tyeb Mehta.

The group wished to break with the revivalist nationalism established by the Bengal school of art and to encourage an Indian avant-garde, engaged at an international level. The Group was formed just months after the 14 August 1947 "Partition of India" and Pakistan that resulted in religious rioting and death of tens of thousands of people displaced by the new borders. The founders of the Progressive Artists Group often cite "the partition" as impetus for their desire for new standards in visual arts in India, starting with their new style of art. Their intention was to "paint with absolute freedom for content and technique, almost anarchic, save that we are governed by one or two sound elemental and eternal laws, of aesthetic order, plastic co-ordination and colour composition."