MF Husain's $1.6 Million Painting In New York Evokes Protests

"M. F. Husain"

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A painting by Maqbool Fida Husain, India's most admired and controversial artist, sold for an astounding $1.6 million at a Christie's auction in New York recently. Husain's Battle of Ganga and Jamuna was purchased by an anonymous bidder for more than twice its appraised value. The auction demonstrated that contemporary Indian paintings are a hot commodity on the international art scene. Another lot, Ram Kumar's The Vagabond (painted in 1952), sold for $1.1 million.

 Christie's South Asian Modern & Contemporary Art sale featured works from the leading 20th and 21st century artists from South Asia, including artists from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh in New York City. The sale focused on prime examples of many different movements and styles and highlights and included works from modern masters M.F. Husain, Francis Newton Souza, Tyeb Mehta, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Syed Haider Raza and Ram Kumar as well as works from leading contemporary artists Atul Dodiya, Bharti Kher, and Jitish Kallat among others.

 Among the various paintings in the sale from Maqbool Fida Husain was a monumental work, one of the most significant to appear at auction, The Battle of Ganga and Jamuna, painted in 1972. This large diptych was made in the apex of Husain's career and is a part of a series of 27 paintings he began for the 11th Sao Paolo Biennial. The painting depicts a scene of the ancient Hindu epic, Mahabharata, detailing the cosmic civil war between forces of right and wrong. Husain was specially invited to the Biennale to exhibit alongside Pablo Picasso. Though Husain has since revisited the themes from Mahabharata, the 1971 series was the first time he attempted the subject matter. Other works from this series are currently housed in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.

"“Battle of Ganga and Jamuna.” by M F Husain, was auctioned off at $1.6 million"

  Husain has been the driving force behind bringing Indian contemporary art to international attention. Chester Hirwitz, a man described by the New York Times as Husain's "most avid collector in the United States" compares the artist to Andy Warhol. However, he has his own detractors too. Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) in association with Indian-American Intellectuals Forum (IAIF) Forum held a protest demonstration outside Christie's art gallery in New York on March 20, 2008, during the auction of M.F. Husain's paintings in Christie's art gallery. Around 35 Hindus joined the protest.

In a letter sent to Christie's, organizers of the protest, wrote: "The whole world is aware that M.F. Husain has drawn nude and obscene paintings of Indian Deities and Bharatmata. Thus he has hurt religious and National sentiments of crores of all Indians. More than 1,250 police complaints have been lodged against him and lot of court cases are going on against him throughout." They argued that Husain's work is tantamount to hate speech. The artist has angered some Hindus over the course of his more than half century long career with what they regard as "sacrilegious" representations of Hindu deities and characters from the Sanskrit epics. Arish Sahani, a co-founder of IAIF, told the media, Husain "is an Indian Muslim who has shown willingness to betray his country."

"Protesters outside Christie’s"

Many in India and abroad, hold the view that Husain is being victimized by right-wing Hindu groups because he is a Muslim. They think, the problem is not Husain's art as such — one can argue that Sanskrit texts and traditional visual representations are more explicit than anything Husain has done — but rather these groups apparently believe that as a Muslim Husain's only purpose in painting Hindu gods must be to denigrate Hinduism. They tend to forget, just as Tharoor convincingly argued in The Times of India, Husain is an Indian first and a Muslim second.

In 1967 he won the Golden Bear at the International Film Festival at Berlin for his documentary Through the Eyes of a Painter and has made several short films since then. Husain was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1973, the Padma Vibhushan in 1989 and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1986. One of the most charismatic artists in India today, he is known for his emphatic understanding of the human situation and his speedy evocation of it in paint. The early evolution of his painterly language was overtaken by adventurous forays into installations and performance art. His experimentations with new forms of art are both unexpected and pioneering. Husain has studios in several cities in India but lives mainly in Mumbai.