Six decades of Husain

What is the marker of an artist’s greatness? His contribution to the art scenario of his time? His body of work? His eccentricities? The worth of his work after death? His trysts and tribulations that transcended the personal to become political? The legends around him that refuse to die? His selling price at auctions? If the answer is all of the above, the artist has to be Maqbool Fida Husain. A retrospective of his art brings the focus on the man, the maverick, who was always in news.

Much has been said, and is known, about Husain, the nonconformist artist. All that, along with his death in 2011, hasn’t been able to diminish his mystique though. Controversial yet loved, unconventional yet rooted, Husain didn’t work in isolation, but shaped the modern art movement in India with the Progressive Artists Group.

‘Husain: The Timeless Modernist’, New Delhi-based DAG’s retrospective on the artist, is an ode to this unwavering legacy. With more than 100 works on display, it encapsulates his vast opus — from Bharat Mata to horses, from Mother Teresa to self-portraits, from geometrical sketches to nudes and sculptures. The canvases are splashed with his modified Cubist designs, the bold narrative and vibrant colours making them easily recognisable.

Husain’s six decades of art practice have been divided into six sections. ‘Idea of a Nation’ is his ode to the country, with figures such as Mother India, Mother Teresa and Gandhiji dominating. It draws imagery from mythology and history, with motifs such as yogic mudras and the Ashoka Chakra recurring. ‘Culture of the Streets’ is a collage of 35 of his photographs taken in the streets of the 1980s’ Madras, with film posters towering in the background. ‘Deciphering Desire’ looks at Husain’s much-debated, much-discussed muse — the feminine figure. While women from all walks of life and society took on the role of his muse, stunning nudes, depicting the raw magnificence of the body, dominate this section.

‘Equine Elegance’ shows how horses captured Husain’s imagination. ‘Monochrome Musings’ looks at his line drawings and sketches. In ‘Freedom of Form’, his poetry manuscripts become a testament to the power of his words and lines. ‘Conversations and Connections’ is the artist’s exploration of portraiture.

The retrospective is a striking reminder of the genius of the artist who India allowed to slip away. Following protests by Hindu fundamentalists, Husain went into self-imposed exile and settled in Dubai in 2006 until his death in 2011. The fear of the right wing was such that Husain was excluded from the first India Art Summit in 2008. To DAG’s credit, it registered protest by displaying some of his works at the show, even resulting in reports of “minor violence”. However, it was their special section on his works at their 2012 India Art Fair that made them realise how people thirsted for his works.

Ashish Anand, CEO & Managing Director, DAG, shares that it took a couple of years to bring ‘Husain: The Timeless Modernist’ together, to decode almost six decades of his practice across the key themes that dominated his work and translated every phase of Husain’s artistic journey from the 1950s to the 2000s. “The section (at India Art Fair) invited huge footfalls as it was the first time that his works were being publicly shown in such large numbers since his departure from the country. He was an artist of the people and the queues lining up to see his works at the fair were a validation of his popularity and charisma. Ever since, we had wanted to curate a comprehensive Husain exhibition and spent the last few years acquiring works representing different periods and styles to do the artist justice,” shares Anand.

“You will also find toys and sculptures, acrylic sheets used as props for his film sets, a rare edition of photographs taken in Madras, and, of course, his distinctive paintings from different periods of his practice. Besides, there is archival material such as his poetry manuscripts from the late 1950s, exhibition invitations, photographs and preparatory drawings, all from the DAG collection. Kiran Nadar Museum of Art loaned us three works for this show,” he adds.

Anand admits that while no single exhibition could ever do justice to Husain’s genius, with this retrospective, “we have come the closest to understanding the vast diversity of his work in terms of periods, subjects, mediums — and, of course, quality”.

The show is on till December 14.