Quiet end in London hospital after recent heart attack; burial to take place today
M.F. Husain, India's foremost modern painter and an internationally recognised artist, passed away here early on Thursday. He was 97.
Husain was reported to have suffered a “silent” heart attack in Dubai recently but had recovered. He reached London, and was admitted to the Royal Brompton Hospital, where he died at 1 a.m. He was said to have been in good spirits.
The burial will take place at a private ceremony here on Friday. The decision not to take the body elsewhere was taken in deference to his wishes: he had wanted to be laid to rest in whichever country he died.
He is survived by six children: four sons and two daughters.
Life in exile
Husain lived in Dubai and London after being forced to leave India in 2006. He left in the face of a vicious campaign of harassment and intimidation, including death threats, by right-wing Hindutva groups, citing his artistic depiction of Hindu deities. His exhibitions were vandalised. A number of legal cases based on the charge of hurting religious sentiments were slapped on him. When he could not respond to a summons from a district court in Haridwar, his immovable properties in India were attached. An arrest warrant was also issued.
In Qatar
Last year, in a rare gesture the state of Qatar offered him nationality. Faced with the prospect of arrest and further harassment if he returned to India, Husain accepted it, describing it as an honour. But he insisted that India would always remain his “home,” regardless of where he lived physically.
There has been widespread criticism that successive Indian governments, including the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance administration, failed to protect his right to artistic freedom.
“It is an indictment of those in power in India that the country's greatest artist died in exile. It is like Picasso dying in exile. For all their claim to secularism, it is a shame that they couldn't defend him against a mob of right-wing fanatics,” economist Lord Meghnad Desai, an admirer and personal friend of Husain, told The Hindu.
The famously bohemian and flamboyant artist, whose refusal to wear footwear became his signature trademark, was credited with putting Indian art on the world map. His own work routinely fetched millions of dollars in the international market. Only recently one of his paintings fetched the equivalent of Rs 2.32 crore at an auction at Bonham's in London.
Born in Pandharpur in Maharashtra, Husain lost his mother when he was one and a half. His father remarried and moved to Indore, where he went to school. In 1935, he moved to what was then Bombay and joined the Sir J.J. School of Art. As a young, struggling artist he painted cinema hoardings. He later came to the limelight in the 1940s. He quickly made his mark as one of the pioneering spirits behind India's fledgling avante garde movement and joined the Progressive Artists' Group led by F.N. Souza.
Husain made his international debut in 1952 with a solo exhibition at Zurich and soon established a worldwide reputation. He soon became one of India's highest-paid painters. Owning a work of his became a mark of social status. The first state recognition came in 1955 when he was awarded the Padma Shri. In 1973, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, and in 1991 the Padma Vibhushan. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1986.
Forays into cinema
Reputed for his free and creative spirit and sense of adventure, Husain experimented with cinema. He made his first film, Through the Eyes of a Painter, in 1967: it won a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. He made two Hindi films, Gaja Gamini, with Madhuri Dixit who he described as his muse; and Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities. He also did a series of paintings inspired by the Bollywood actor, signing off as ‘Fida,' an Urdu word for ‘devoted.'
Industrialist Lord Paul of Marylebone described him as a “great Indian and a great human being.” The Labour peer added: “He made India proud and in his death the country has lost a great soul.''
Keywords: M.F. Hussain, M.F. Husaion death, Indian art, Gaja Gamini, Meenaxi, Through the Eyes of a Painter
Learning about the death of M.F.Hussain has been painful. When you see how artists are revered and their works nurtured and preserved for ages, it is a shame that for petty politics,India/s greatest painter of of the modern times has passed away without it evoking much response from either the govt or the press....I sincerely hope and pray that something be done to preserve the legacy called M. F. Hussain, for our future generations to know and appreciate.
India will miss him very much..
it is loss of art world
He is a great artist and may he rest in peace but to me he would always be some one who has hurt the religious feelings of my fellow countrymen grievously and repeatedly. I do not grudge him the rights that my country has given him but I also expect him to have faith in our constitution and judiciary like millions of other old ordinary citizens.We simply do not have the option to flee the laws of the land and have honour of foreign citizenship bestowed on us as we believe in being Indians and not just in thought but living it and enduring it even if at times it is not endearing.
A true legend has but let not politicise this man and destory him. Let the man rest in peace
I have been reading The Hindu since I was 10 years old. I was born and brought up in Madras. Moved to U S A in 1975. I continue to enjoy reading the news and views published in this great newspaper. Please keep up secular trend which make the publication and India great.
I really don't know what was all that fuss about, being an art collector appreciator myself, I never quite liked MF Husain's work. When you talk art, you talk William Bouguereau who would also paint Mary/Christ and the Greek/Roman Gods without clothes on, someone whose work I greatly admire. I appreciate realism or realism/surrealism in art and if artists just paint abstracts, you tend to think they just do not have the depth to engage in things like self-portraits or anything in that regard. Make no mistake, MF Husain was talented, but I think he didn't possess the skills of Picasso - you look at Picasso's earlier work, you can see the transition between authentic art to modern art, Husain was all the way abstract, even his best fantasy work are simply too abstract, which made me doubt if he could match the likes of Bouguereau.
News of death of artist Mr. M F Husain will revive the old debate about freedom of expression of an artist and, whether in democratic societies, artists should have unrestricted freedom. While as a matter of principle it can be argued that Mr. M F Husain had all the freedom, there was no need to hurt public sentiments in the name of that freedom. Many citizens whom were his admirers felt that Mr. Husain did not use the artist's freedom with discretion. When he invited public wrath for his nude paintings, his friends were helpless. Many people who were against violence and burning of his effigies etc. still believe that he misused the freedom. Secondly, was it not the responsibility of Mr. M F Husain to explain his stand about controversial paintings and why he painted them? If he had the freedom to hurt others, others too had similar freedom to oppose the exhibition of his paintings.
As an Indian it feels shame to me.What our politicians rather media was doing when he was in exile?Was they really feel sorry?Where was their voices against the Govt. decision to sent him an exile?From yesterdays night every channel are focusing him as a great artist.India should mourn on then decision of govt.not for his demise.He was dead for India since 2006.So,I salute the great artist for his right decision---"The burial will take place at a private ceremony here on Friday. The decision not to take the body elsewhere was taken in deference to his wishes: he had wanted to be laid to rest in whichever country he died." Long live Hussain!
It is quite interesting and amusing that the Government of India did almost nothing to come to his support and now after his death, they bemoan the loss so vehemently. Freedom of speech and artistic expression is perhaps, only a clause in the largest 'democracy' in the world.
Wow..so sad to hear him pass away. But more unfortunate is that we made him go away. Could we learn to show our displeasure in a civilized manner and not by giving death threats?
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