Vividh 2016: Multiple Expressions of Indian Art

awardee, K G as he was popularly known was also recipient of the Christensen Fellowship at St.
Catherine's College Oxford, Professor Emeritus at Visva Bharti, Santiniketan and LKA Kala
Ratna and Ravi Varma Award amongst others. This eminent artist's work has been exhibited in
numerous important shows in various parts of the world including at Asian Artists' Exhibition
in Japan, Six Indian Painters at Tate Gallery, London, a retrospective at the National Gallery of
Modern Art in Delhi besides nearly 50 other solo shows in Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, Chennai,
Santiniketan, New York and Oxford. Subramanyan represented India at prestigious
international Biennales.
M F HUSAIN
M.F. Husain (1915- 2011) full name Maqbool Fida Husain, also spelt as Hussain, was born at
Pandharpur in Maharashtra. Popularly known as MF Husain, he is one of India's world famous
painters. He learnt the art of calligraphy and the Kulfic Khat and wrote poetry at a young age.
Studied art briefly, first at the Indore Art College and then at Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai,
where he worked on designing furniture and making toys as well as a billboard painter for
cinema hoardings to sustain himself. It is this varied experience and rigor that endowed his
work its special artistic oeuvre. There is a simplicity enshrined in the enigmatic style, vibrant
colours and accessible imagery that this multi-faceted and special individual created in bold
and quick brush strokes. Well grounded in the traditional roots and fiercely open to the
contemporary, external or experimental, his masterpiece creations about life, society and the
world around – people, nudes, horses, Mother Teresa, religious icons, landscapes and other
forms of imagery, all assume a distinct and luminous representation even though their faces
bear no features! His enormous body of work also includes series of paintings on the British Raj,
on the cities of Calcutta, Benares, Rome and Beijing, Epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana,
religions of the world and his favourite Bollywood stars. His repertoire also includes murals,
portraits, photographs, design work and film direction including 'Through the Eyes of a Painter',
'Gaja Gamini' and 'Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities' the former winning the Golden Bear Award
at the Berlin Film Festival. Invited to Sao Paulo Biennial along with Pablo Picasso, his work has
been shown in numerous seminal art expositions held all over the country and the world.
Honoured as Padma Vibhushan by the President of India amongst other awards, he was also a
nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha. His work can be seen at significant collections
including Ebrahim Alkazi and NGMA Delhi, Jehangir Nicholson Mumbai, Masanori Fukuoka
and Glenbarra Museum in Japan and Chester and Davida Herwtiz in USA. With homes and
studios in several cities, Hussain lived his last few years in exile, shuttling between Dubai and
London.