Journalism of Courage
A solo show of works by painter MF Husain, including a rare horse painting, is being held by DAG at The Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai; Arrival (Oil and acrylic on jute. 35.5 x 25.5 in. / 90.2 x 64.8 cm) (Source: DAG)
MF Husain was the colossus of the Indian art world whose reign over twentieth-century modern art remains unparalleled; Cobra Girl (Acrylic on canvas. 24.2 x 18.7 in. / 61.5 x 47.5 cm) (Source: DAG)
Popularly recognised for his paintings of horses, Husain began his career with a range of subaltern subjects that brought dignity to the lives of ordinary people—from farmers to performers—and captured their contribution to the making of a great civilisational culture; Untitled (King) (Oil impasto on canvas, 1960s. 14.0 x 11.0 in. / 35.6 x 27.9 cm) (Source: DAG)
From depictions of the great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata to mythology and history, from poignant portraits of Mother Teresa to his sardonic study of the Raj, from his interest in India’s syncretic traditions to his visualisation of theology, Husain mastered it in a way no other artist ever managed to; That Obscure Object of Desire-21 (Watercolour and graphite on paper, 1982. 20.0 x 14.2 in. / 50.8 x 36.1 cm) (Source: DAG)
He spent the last years of his life in self-exile from India without forsaking his idea of the country which remained his true inspiration. There will truly never be another like him; Untitled (Maya’s Dream) (Oil on canvas, 1964. 34.5 x 25.0 in. / 87.6 x 63.5 cm) (Source: DAG)
This selection of paintings reflects the diversity of his interests and talent; Untitled (Nude) (Oil on canvas. 48.0 x 24.0 in. / 121.9. x 61.0 cm) (Source: DAG)
It includes works from the earliest phases of his career to the more recent in a range of mediums covering the encaustic, his canvases as well as his watercolours; Untitled (Rajasthan Landscape) (Oil on paper pasted on board, c. 1960. 25.7 x 48.0 in. / 65.3 x 121.9 cm) (Source: DAG)
Also included are his wooden ‘toys’ created as part of children’s nursery furniture; Untitled (Woman with Rooster) (Oil on jute pasted on canvas, 1956. 44.0 x 43.5 in. / 111.8 x 110.5 cm) (Source: DAG)
As eclectic as this selection is, it allows the viewer to grasp the triumph of the artist’s genius that blazed across the Indian art firmament for the artist to claim: ‘When I begin to paint, hold the sky in your hands as the stretch of my canvas is unknown to me.’; Untitled (Oil on canvas. 33.0 x 40.0 in. / 83.8 x 101.6 cm) (Source: DAG)
In a practice that spanned over seventy years, Husain was playful, experimental, provocative, controversial—but never mediocre; Untitled (Acrylic with artificial beads and stones pasted on canvas, 1986. 40.2 x 32.2 in. / 102.1 x 81.1 cm) (Source: DAG)
