Hussain

Born in 1915 at Pandharpur in Maharashtra; Hussain comes from a traditional Muslim background. As a child, Hussain learnt the art of calligraphy and loved to read poetries while he resided with his uncle in Baroda. After painting many countryside landscapes and completing his schooling in Indore, Hussain decided to move to Mumbai to make his career in art. He joined the J.J. school of arts and started to earn his living by painting billboards for feature films. In 1947, Hussain won an award for his paintings at the annual exhibition of the Bombay art society and this marked the beginning of a vibrant colorful career ahead waiting for this art maestro. Hussain did a lot of art experimentation in his early years by blending different ethnic and mythological themes to create luminous art forms. 

Art is surely a gift of God and one of the most beautiful forms of ex-pression. Blessed with this endowment is one such artist who needs no introduction. His name is a metaphor to contemporary Indian art and his paintings speak for themselves. With his feet well grounded in the traditional roots and a mindset so open and fierce, he has become one of the most prominent figures in the Indian art industry. He is none other than Maqbool Fida Husain, more popularly, M.F.Hussain. He is one of the most enigmatic artists of India who is known for his vigorous appreciation of the human circumstances and the traces of it can be found in his masterpieces.

Source:  http://www.art.in/artists/m-f-hussain.htm

It was in 1951 that Hussain traveled to China for the first time and the following year he had his first solo exhibition in Zurich. The next few years were vital in Hussain's painting career. His paintings were widely exhibited all over the world, especially in Europe and USA, making him a name to reckon with contemporary painting. In 1966 Husain was awarded the Padmashree by the Government of India. In the following year he made his first film, Through the Eyes of a Painter . It was shown at the Berlin Festival and won a Golden Bear. Some of his best-known works are called the Sufi paintings, which were first exhibited at the Pundole Gallery in 1978.

Hussain is famous not only for his paintings but also for his experiments and conducts which are often inscrutable to the general public. Mention might be made of his Shwetambari exhibition at the Jehangir Art Gallery that consisted of two halls shrouded in white cloth, whorls of which also shared the floor with torn newspapers. Equally interesting was his public performance at the Tata Center in Calcutta. For several days a crowd watched as Hussain painted pictures of six goddesses – only to destroy the paintings by overpainting with white on the last day of the exhibition.

Source:  http://www.ethnicpaintings.com/contemporary_artists/famous-artist-m-f-hussain-1.html

Source: Image: Online