Portrait of an Artist as a Friend

We met for the first time in the 1940s,when we were both in Mumbai. In some years we were to establish the Progressive Artists Group. Our aim was to establish a distinct identity for Indian art,after the country gained Independence. All of us used to work in our studios during the day,and in the evenings we met for tea. That was when we discussed our work and exchanged notes on the women we liked,and the ones we were infatuated with. I remember we lamented when Amrita Sher-Gil passed away,she was so beautiful and young.

During the initial years,all of us were finding our own language of art. We used to make things,show it to each other and ask for feedback. Husain was the quickest among us,at times too quick,I thought. He made works within hours and made too many of them. I like the works he made during the last few years. Of course,his energy was incomparable.

When I moved to Paris on a scholarship in 1950,Husain was very encouraging. He used to roam across the world himself. He loved luxurious things and was very fond of cars. We also met when he travelled to Paris and to London. It was difficult to get in touch with him otherwise,he never returned phone calls.

I was not in India when the controversy arose about his work,but it is sad he had to leave the country. He was one of the most talented and versatile artists we have had.

Ram Kumar,86

The last I met Husain was four-five years back,when I travelled to Dubai for a felicitation of his,for which artists from India had been invited. The event was centered around Husain,but during that visit I could not spend a lot of time with him. Rather,it was during my last show in London some years back,that we spent some time together. Uske paas badi gaadi thi. Woh ghoomta rehta tha He had a big car and used to roam around all the time. We went to eat in a restaurant and he stayed with me at the gallery for a while.

In the 1950s,we discussed a lot of art,but gradually all of us became busy. I still remember the first time I met Husain in 1951,during one of his exhibitions in Delhi. After that,we attended several shows of each other. We even exhibited together many times and did a project together at Pragati Maidan about 15-20 years back. Husain had to paint some banners and he asked me if I wanted to join him. I said yes,and we worked together.

During that period,we often exchanged our works. Once I gave him a small work and asked him for one in return. For three-four years he did not give me anything,then one day he got me a huge canvas. I told him it was too big,but he told me to keep it.

He never knew about one work of his that I have. It was in the 1950s and we were in a taxi. He was dissatisfied with a work of his and wanted to tear it up. I told him,Itni jaldi kya hai? whats the hurry and kept it with me. I never destroyed it and now I have it framed with me.

After he left India,it was difficult to speak to him. He never picked up the phone. He was a good artist,but I did not think much of him as a filmmaker. He wrote poems too,but they were different from the usual,not professional.

Krishen Khanna,86

I opened Husains first bank account. It was in the 1950s when I was working at Grindlays Bank and was posted in Mumbai. A few years later,I made up my mind to devote all my time to painting and quit the bank. The day I resigned,Bal Chhabra,VS Gaitonde and Husain had a celebration to show their support. In those days,there was no money in art. One pursued it for the love of it and Husain and I would exchange letters,drawing in them to explain our points of view.

Husain was already a member of the Progressive Artists Group when I took up art full time. There was an unwritten rule in the group that only an existing member could introduce a new artist for induction in the group. Husain introduced me and even sold my first canvas to Homi Bhabha for Rs 200.

He forged a relationship with almost everyone he met. He had a great sense of humour,was frank and always spoke his mind. If he did not like something,he voiced it. He was also very generous. During one of his trips to Shimla,he was staying with me and my parents. One morning he went missing. We were looking for him frantically when he called to say that he was in the police station. He had been caught driving on the Ridge,which was not allowed. He was fined a sum of Rs 40 or 50,but he also insisted on paying the fine levied on a lady whose goats had wandered and eaten someones fruits. So he ended up paying Rs 100.

I own about seven-eight works by Husain. I bought some of them while he gifted me the others. One of them is a small painting of a woman pounding rice. I saw the work,Holi,in the show window of a Mumbai gallery and bought it for about Rs 350. Husain also gifted me a work after he lost my copy of Clive Bells Art. One day when I returned from work I found a canvas with a note saying that he had forgotten my book in a taxi. It is a painting of a mother and child. I don’t intend to sell any of his works because they remind me of a dear friend. I have given some of them to my children though.

I was in constant touch with Husain even after his exile from India. It was unfortunate that he had to leave the country,but he had no bitter feelings. In fact,I remember speaking to him a few weeks before his demise and he said,Ab milna chahiye,samay aa raha hai We should meet,my times coming. I wish I had travelled to meet him before his death,but the plan never materialised.

Akbar Padamsee,84

Husain always surprised everyone and it was the same when he died. No one expected him to die. He walked faster than most people younger than him and was working till the very end. Apart from being an artist,he was also a good poet. I last spoke to him on his 90th birthday,when he called to invite me for the celebrations. I told him I will not be coming as I did not want to be one of the several people in the party.

Husain never had to look for things,he just got them. He came to Mumbai from Indore with nothing in his pocket. He didnt have a place to sleep,so he put his bed near Badar Baug and when he woke up he saw large cinema hoardings being painted. When the painters went out for tea,he climbed the scaffolding and finished the hoarding without using squares. On their return,the painters were shocked to see it complete and immediately offered Husain a job. Extremely famished,Husain requested for an advance of Rs 100 and said,Let me have food and I will come back. He had biryani and was back in hours. Soon,he also got a place to stay and a wife. Fazila,who used to watch him paint,fell in love with him. When she told her father,he invited Husain for lunch. The marriage was fixed and Husains father-in-law invited him to stay with them since he didnt want him to sleep on the pavement. Therefore,Husain didnt have to struggle to find a place to stay in Mumbai or for a job.

I remember when I was in Paris,my brother called and told me that Roberto Rossellini Italian filmmaker was in Mumbai and wondered if I could possibly come down to meet him. I refused,as I did not have that kind of money to go back and forth. Husain met him and soon Rossellini sponsored his trip to Italy where Husain painted his wife Ingrid Bergman. Husain was setting up his canvas when she began stripping to pose for a nude. Husain later told me his hands were trembling and he was afraid Rossellini would misconstrue the scene. But the filmmaker liked the painting. Husain was to paint several nudes later in life.

More than anything else,Husain was a peoples painter. He loved attention. Bal Chhabra had spotted his talent through the posters Husain painted. When he opened a gallery,he had an exhibition where all of us showed together. Husain priced his work for Rs 900. SH Raza,who had come down from Paris,put up an abstract work for Rs 2000. When Husain heard this the next day,he replaced two of his works with abstracts,whose prices were higher than Razas. He wanted to be on the top always and was more prolific than most of us. Once,when he was visiting us in Paris,he put up an entire show in a week. He asked the gallery the size of the walls and ordered canvases accordingly. In a week Husain had completed the paintings. During the same visit one day he asked me for a canvas,and finished painting it furiously. He went out and sold it within an hour. Only Husain could do such things.

As told to Vandana Kalra