TAMARIND ART
MF Husain was first and foremost a great painter, the “Picasso of India,” a genius who took Indian contemporary art to new places. He was born in Pandhapur in Maharashtra to a watchmaker and spent much of his childhood in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. There, he spent much of his time drawing and was apprenticed to an uncle and studied religious calligraphy. As a young man, he moved to Mumbai where he painted movie billboards to support himself.
As a painter, he was like no other. A self-made man, his signature style explored the abstract through the figurative and was inspired by the principles of individuality and painting without restrictions on style or content. He travelled extensively throughout India and later the world. He won many awards and was a founding member of the Progressive Artists’ Group. There is an unprecedented demand for his paintings, which fetched record prices. Energetic and always on the move, he was incredibly prolific and remained generous with his art, often giving it away to friends or even strangers.
(Thanks to Asad Zaidi)