'Muharram-- Painting by M.F.Hussain( Image Courtesy Google)
M.F.Husain Painting a Horse
Dr.Mazhar Naqvi
The 100th birth anniversary of
Indian Picasso Maqbool Fida Hussain passed off quietly in his homeland today. Only
Google recalled the great painter befittingly on a day that should have been
celebrated at a much grand scale in India. Among the newspaper houses only Indian Express
carried some rare photographs of Hussain as a token of remembrance. The apathy towards
the hundredth birth day of one of India’s greatest painters only indicate that
fanatics neither forgets nor forgives and out of their fear even very vocal
personalities prefer to remain silent. Hussain remained star of the eyes of
Indian people for decades. But he became an apple of discord by applying his
brush to produce some controversial paintings. Husain irked so much the
sentiments of a particular community that he had to spend his last days in
exile. He breathed his last in Doha in 2011 and was buried there itself. The controversy
associated with his name did not die with him. He continues to suffer even after
his death as is evident from the shabby treatment given to his 100th
birth day.
Whatever his critics may say, the
blogger has no doubt that Husain enjoyed blessings of Masoomeen. His love for ’Duldul(Horse
of Imam Husain) and Tazia took him to the zenith of career as a painter. He was born on September 17,
1915 in Pandharpur(Maharashtra).He lost his mother Zainab at the age of two. Husain
himself revealed in an article “ I had
fallen seriously ill and her desperate prayer was that her life should be taken
and mine spared. That is exactly what happened. Though alive I counted myself
extremely unfortunate. Can anyone make up for the loss of a mother? I don’t
even have a picture of her. She refused to get herself photographed. In those
days people were afraid of the camera. They thought it cast an evil eye and
shortened life. Sadly, I have nothing which remotely resembles or reminds me of
my mother. She is just a name to me, not even a memory.”
Soon after mother’s death, his family moved
to Indore where four years later his father Fida Husain married again. He
worked as an accountant in a textile mill. Though he was strict but he
encouraged his son’s Passion for painting. Fida was indeed a progressive man as
he faced the Indore Ulema who objected to Maqbool’s pursuit, saying “ ‘This is
not right. What you are doing is against our religion”.
Husain’s passion for horses, a striking
feature of his paintings, also began in Indore. Ashura was a very important day
in Indore. It was not perceived as a Muslim festival. Hindus equally participated
in the Muharram rituals. Maharaja himself joined the procession every year. “To
Muslims, Muharram is not a festival of rejoicing. It is an occasion for mourning
the martyrdom of the Prophets grandson Hazrat Husain, who was killed in battle.
On the tenth day, Muslims would take out tazias (mobile tombs
crafted with bamboo, coloured gilt paper and cloth) in a procession as is
customary, and immerse them in the river. The Maharaja’s tazia was the grandest
of all—a colossal affair, two storeys high!”
Husain further writes “the making of
these tazias was a specialized art. In fact the huge ones took a whole year to
make. As soon as they were immersed in water, the craftsmen began to make new
tazias for the following year. I used to go and watch them being made......During
Muharram they also made huge papier mache horses and painted them. They
represented the steed named Duldul on which Husain rode to the wars and was
martyred. You know that I am known as the painter of horses. All my life I have
drawn horses. My fascination for those glorious creatures began with childhood
memories of horses in the procession.”
His words exhibit his reverence for Imam’s
horse. Husain was never good at studies. As a young boy, he prayed eight hours
a day and his family felt as if he is going to be a Maulvi. But his restlessness
for painting led to his ouster from the religious school where painting was a
taboo and he had dared to paint the cups and plates.
The ouster from school had no impact on
him and his passion for painting became so overwhelming that he lost interest
in everything else. “My hand kept moving on paper, making shapes and patterns.
I painted on broken bits of crockery and on the floor, imitating the traditions
of Gujarat and Rajasthan......As I grew older I got to know more and more about
the great painters of the world in Europe, the United States, China and
Japan—about Matisse and Renoir, Picasso and Paul Klee.”
Beginning
his career as a painter of cinema posters, he earned worldwide respect and acclamation
for his work to be rated as India’s Picasso. But the image of twenty foot high effigies
of horses carried during Muharram in Indore remained embedded always in his
mind.
“These gigantic horses
signified all the valour of the warrior for the young boy and they emerged in
some of his earliest paintings as animated, powerful animals" writes Yashodhara
Dalmia in her work on M.F. Husain.
His continued love for Imam’s horse resulted in his emergence as one of the
finest painter world ever produced. As his name and fame spread,” his horse swept across continents, amalgamating
various influences into a composite form. He also liberated Duldul from his
childhood image first by the Chinese rendering of the horse, and then by the
plasticity of form in Franz Marc and Mario Marini's balance between horizontal
and vertical lines.” Husain's horses, however, are singularly his own" remarks
Yashodhara further.
It may sound strange but
it is a fact that so long as Husain remained focused on Duldul he had a Midas
touch but when he turned his attention to a Bollywood heroine and painted Goddesses
nude, he had to leave the country that he had refused to part with at the time
of partition. Husain remained protected in his early days when Mullahs turned
against him but none tried to save him when fanatics attacked him for hurting
their religious sentiments through his ‘progressive’ paintings. His life proves
once again that if you have once dedicated yourself to the love of Masoomeen, then
never try anything else or you would also be forgotten like M.F. Hussain gradually. (This article has been contributed to mark 100th birth anniversary of M.F.Hussain)
