Maqbool Fida (M.F.) Husain

Maqbool Fida (M.F.) Husain was one of India’s most eminent artists of the 20th Century. Using freehand drawing and a vibrant colour schemes, he depicted Indian subject matter in Cubist narrative paintings.

Husain began his career in 1935 as a painter of cinema hoardings after dropping out of the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art (Bombay/Mumbai). Along with F. N. Souza, S. H. Raza, K. H. Ara, H. A. Gade and S. K. Bakre, Husain founded the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group in 1947, in response to the nationalistic Bengal School of Art and the Partition of India and Pakistan. The group reflexively melded Indian Art History with early 20th Century avant-garde styles, such as Post-Impressionism, Cubism and Expressionism. Husain depicted both historical and contemporary Indian figures, such as Mohandas K. Gandhi, Mother Teresa, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the British raj. He was met with much critical acclaim and recognition, being awarded with national honours like the Padma Bhushan (1973) and the Padma Vibhushan (1991). After fighting a series of lawsuits and receiving death threats from Hindu extremists for painting nude Hindu goddesses, Husain lived from 2006 in self-imposed exile, mainly in London and in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

• Britannica