(Taken from the latest issue of The Kathmandu Post Review of Books,
co-ordinated this month in Kathmandu by Swarnim Wagle).
The Portrait of an Artist
By Charulata PrasadaBOOK: Husain: Riding the Lighteningby Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni
Published by Ramdas Bhaktal for Popular Prakashan, Mumbai, India, 1996, 180 pages
“My horses like lightening, cut across many horizons. Seldom, their hooves are
shown. They hop around the spaces. From the battlefield of Karballa to Bankura
terra cota, from the Chinese Tsei Pei Hung horse to the the St. Marcos horse,
from ornate armoured Dukdul to the challenging white of the ‘Ashwa-medh’-the
cavalcade of my horses is multidimensional. At Indore, in my childhood, I
played with clay horses of village fairs, merry-go-rounds of wooden horses.
Several sons of my neighborhood went riding on decorated horses with brass
band blaring to fetch a coy bride. I still wonder how Kallo Tongawala used to
ply his Tonga with the rickety horse.”
Riding the Lightening chronicles the life of perhaps the most iconic of
India’s painters. Born in 1915 in Indore, Maqbool Fida Husain’s art crosses
the horizons of colonialism, nationalism, the diversity and modernity of
India. This six-foot-four barefooted artist worships the Indian soil with his
feet, and by juxtaposing the many Indias, and against other cultures, therein
defining, through paint, an Indian identity.
As a student at the Indore School of Art, Husain came away with two lessons.
The first lesson, that art need not be defined by the conventions of British
academicism, liberated Husain stylistically. With this, he embraced Indian
subject through unconventional composition and perspective. The second lesson
- that lines are an artistic device virtually non-existent in nature - is
prevalent in Husains work, which depicts the symbols and subjects of his
culture with an aesthetic brilliance that balances colour with line in a
uniquely meaningful perspective.
Indeed, Husain’s connection with the lush culture of rural India is linked
back to his childhood, spent within the feudal enclave of Indore. Husain is
described in this book from the jamaat ‘class’ representing common people;
however, anecdotes about his childhood indicate all the trappings of a middle
class Muslim upbringing. His house was always filled with guests and Husain
grew up reading English books with particular interest in English poetry.
As an adolescent, Husain began a long-standing love affair with cinema. He
recalls cutting afternoon classes to attend the cinema. It is no surprise that
when Husain first left Indore for Bombay, he got a job-painting cinema
hoardings for popular Bombay films. Obligations to his ailing father, and his
marriage to his one and only wife Fazila, forced Husain to work many years in
a toy factory for steady income. Yet, both these jobs profoundly influenced
Husain’s work both in terms of his choice of subjects and the development of
his style.
His inspiration drawn from cinema ranges from early drawings depicting
scenes from classical film makers such as Satyajit Ray to his most
contemporary work which focus on the popular actress Madhuri Dixit. For
example, inspired by Ray^Rs first major cinematic work, Pathar Panchali (1955),
Husain drew an oil crayon drawing called Apu and the Train. This drawing is
typical of Husain^Rs work in its juxtaposition of the many Indias that exist.
The train, a symbol of modernity, and the outgrowth of colonialism runs across
the full piece; it is an almost frightening encounter with rural India, the
child^Rs eye of Apu, which is portrayed through Husain^Rs selected drawing style
and medium of crayon. Durga, Apu^Rs sister in the other corner, her bright
ochre face depicting the traditional soil of India, balances a goat in one
corner. Indeed, Husain has relied on colour and perspective to illustrate his
theme.Husain uses perspective in a similar contemporary piece entitled, Clint
Eastwood Finds Meryl and Madhuri on the Bridge of Madison County. By placing
Madhuri Dixit, portrayed as sensual, self confident and almost aloof, to Clint
Eastwood^Rs suggestively raised pistol, Husain has juxtaposed the American
ideal of manhood against the Indian ideal of womanhood. It has been noted
that the positioning of the figures - Clint Eastwood under the arch of the
Bridge and the arch of Madhuri^Rs body - connotes the strength and beauty of
India.Indeed, since he glimpsed his step-mothers fair, arched feet as a boy in
Indore, Husains admiration for beautiful women has shaped his life and art.
Few references are made in this book to Husain’s friendships and travels
with beautiful women. Although, as mentioned by the author, Husain^Rs women
are rarely drawn to be exquisitely sensual. Rather, the strong influence of
contour (perhaps influenced by toy making), and use of perspective, seem to
allow Husain to create innuendo wherever necessary.
Husain has never been afraid of controversy. This book, written in somewhat
of a defensive tone, seems to bypass some of the most significant themes of
Husain^Rs painting. For example, Husain^Rs Ramayan and Mahabharata as well as
the depiction of Hindu gods such as Hanuman and Ganesha, are often discussed
due to Husain^Rs tendency to humanise and contextualise their imagery according
to emotions such as desire. This marks the contemporary reinterpretation of
the ancient India. In one of his catalogues, Husain cited a large translation
by Ganapati from C. Rajagopalcharia^Rs Mahabharata. Husain humourously
appropriates the last lines, "it was before the days of painting^T, crossing
out painting and replacing it with the word printing.
Perhaps the beauty of Husain^Rs work is the outcome of the creative freedom
that he has usurped. This began with his membership in the Progressive
Artists Group in 1947 during the nascent fervour of the Quit India movement.
The credibility of his non-conventional art rests in its Indianness. He has
been known to paint the six deities on six canvasses simultaneously, only to
paint over them, or to attend a viewing of Hum Aap Ke Hain Kaun (Who Am I to
You: a Madhuri Dixit film) conducting the song and dance scenes with a
paintbrush. Indeed, this is also the basis for his creative insight.
Husain has travelled to China, had one-man shows in Latin America, Europe,
North America and Asia. He has had major auctions with both Christies and
Southeby’s. So has Husain travelled in India, as the horses in his work
crossed the many horizons portraying insightful emotion and thought-provoking
beauty.
(Ms. Prasada works on gender issues at the United Nations, and has interest in
the art of collage)