Hurting culture with litigation
2 months ago

Hurting culture with litigation

Hindustan Times  

Maqbool Fida Husain, arguably among India’s finest artists, died in exile in 2011. But the targeting of Husain hasn’t ceased even after his demise, as is evident from the plea filed in a Delhi local court that two of his works that were on view in a private art gallery as part of a December exhibition, Husain: The Timeless Modernist, depicted Hindu deities in an “objectionable manner”. Importantly, three months ago, the Bombay high court criticised the customs department for seizing the works of FN Souza and Akbar Padamsee, Husain’s contemporaries, on charges of depicting nudity. While describing the customs official’s action as perverse and unreasonable, judges MS Sonak and Jitendra Jain observed: “The Assistant Commissioner Customs has failed to appreciate that sex and obscenity are not always synonymous. The targeting of modernist art — in galleries and even university classrooms — has been a favourite act of aesthetically challenged activists, who take special pride in disrupting exhibitions and harassing artists, gallerists, and art students.

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History of this topic

M.F. Husain and the question of censorship
1 month, 1 week ago

M.F. Husain and the question of censorship

The Hindu  

As a teenager, each time I crossed the boundaries of good behaviour, my father would remind me of the saying, ‘With freedom, comes responsibility.’ Liberty has an inseparable second half — that of being held accountable for actions. More recently, the Bombay High Court restrained the Customs department last October from destroying, yet again, paintings by Padamsee, stating, “Not every …

A Mother Let Her Child Paint on Her Nude Body, MF Hussain's 'Bharat Mata': When Does Art Become Obscene?
4 years, 6 months ago

A Mother Let Her Child Paint on Her Nude Body, MF Hussain's 'Bharat Mata': When Does Art Become Obscene?

News 18  

Recently I was drawn to a very unconventional case. The essence of the dilemma facing the court can be seen in paragraph 16 of the judgment: the court acknowledges the difference in perception between those the court calls ‘the insensitive’ and those identified as ‘the intellectual’ the court notes: “The laying down of the true test is not rendered any …

Maqbool Fida Husain, 100 years on
8 years, 11 months ago

Maqbool Fida Husain, 100 years on

Live Mint  

Days before his death in June 2011, aged 95, Maqbool Fida Husain was planning a show in London, discussing it with, among others, Supriya Banerjee, owner of Galerie 88 in Kolkata, and a long-time associate of the legendary, barefoot artist. Like a child’s,” recalls Banerjee, sitting in the gallery that has hosted several landmark Husain shows, including those based on …

Google's doodle for artist Husain on birth centenary
9 years, 6 months ago

Google's doodle for artist Husain on birth centenary

India TV News  

New Delhi: Google on Thursday celebrated the birth centenary of renowned Indian artist Maqbool Fida Husain who died in London on June 9, 2011 where he would spend his summers after a self-imposed exile since 2006 due to death threats back home and scores of lawsuits. Using some of the painter's favourite colours, notably pastels in blue, red, yellow ochre …

MF Husain: Indian artist who spent his last five years in self-imposed exile after death threats from Hindu nationalists
13 years, 9 months ago

MF Husain: Indian artist who spent his last five years in self-imposed exile after death threats from Hindu nationalists

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Having transformed himself from a movie billboard artist, scrabbling …

Requiem for M.F. Husain
13 years, 9 months ago

Requiem for M.F. Husain

The Hindu  

M. F. Husain, India's greatest and most celebrated artist, called me from his hospital bed in London Tuesday afternoon. My mind went back to 1996 when a communal hate campaign, physical threats, acts of vandalism, and impending arrest forced Husain-saab into exile. He kept calling us from London, from New York, pleading that he must absolutely come back to India, …

Forget Husain's indiscretions, he was steeped in India
13 years, 9 months ago

Forget Husain's indiscretions, he was steeped in India

Firstpost  

It’s unfair to ascribe motives to MF Husain. Painter MF Husain painted Hindu deities and Bharat Mata in the nude — there’s still a debate whether he actually did that deliberately - and the art community jumped to his defence citing an artist’s freedom to express himself. Disrespect to religions and religious symbols would continue to raise violent passions till …

Husain fought legal battle against vandals, puritans
13 years, 9 months ago

Husain fought legal battle against vandals, puritans

The Hindu  

Driven by right-wing political activists and vandals into exile, M.F. Husain had to face criminal complaints of obscenity in various Indian courts for his nude paintings of goddesses before the Supreme Court came to his rescue, holding that his paintings were nothing but art. There are so many such art forms in temple structures.” The Supreme Court threw out an …

MF Husain, India's exiled Picasso, dies in London
13 years, 9 months ago

MF Husain, India's exiled Picasso, dies in London

Firstpost  

MF Husain, India’s celebrated painter, died in London at the Royal Brompton hospital. Maqbool Fida Husain, India’s celebrity painter, died at Royal Brompton hospital in London at 2:30 am local time, family sources say. According to one report in Mumbai’s Mid-Day, his body will not be brought to India for burial and that his last rites will be conducted in …

Hussain's 'unholy' paintings spark orgy of violence
19 years, 11 months ago

Hussain's 'unholy' paintings spark orgy of violence

Hindustan Times  

Acknowledged as one of the living legends of Indian art, Maqbool Fida Hussain created a public furore by painting Hindu goddesses in the nude in 1996. He even expressed his willingness to go before a committee of three persons - an art critic, a lawyer and a representative of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad - that could scrutinise his entire collection. …

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