With a stunning, expansive retrospective spanning over 100 works, Mumbai plays host to a familiar city icon whose canvases and shadow looms large over India’s modernist aesthetic and sensibilities
Mother Teresa (Diptych), acrylic on canvas, 1980. Pics Courtesy/DAG collection
He was well read, unique, mercurial, even controversial and odd. Over his lifetime, Maqbool Fida Husain was given many sobriquets and adjectives, but he could never be ignored. Almost 15 years since his passing, his work evokes a similar response. It is this multi-hued personality and his long work that is at the centre of DAG’s retrospective, Husain: The Timeless Modernist that opens in Colaba today.
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MF Husain painting the architectural marvel Amdavad ni Gufa — a collaborative effort of the artist and architect BV Doshi. The construction of the gallery began in 1992 and was completed in 1995
For Ashish Anand, CEO and MD, DAG (formerly Delhi Art Gallery), the scale of the exhibition reflects the dominance of Husain on modern Indian art. “Husain has been the face of Indian modernism for much of the twentieth century, the one artist everyone seems to know and recognise, and whose work is on almost every collector’s wish list. A retrospective on him was long due and the surprise is that no one else had done this earlier,” he explains.
MF Husain, possibly photographed at his residence in Mumbai
While the exhibition first opened in New Delhi in October 2024, Anand points out that the foundation was laid earlier. “We’d done a curtain raiser of sorts with Master Maqbool, an exhibition of Husain’s works, in Mumbai in 2023. His association with Mumbai is inextricable, and this was our ode to that relationship between the artist and the city,” he notes.
A signed sketch by MF Husain
This relationship emerges through over 100 works that span six decades, and multiple mediums. Anand explains that the gallery built the collection over painstaking searches through several years. “It was challenging, but rewarding, searching for works of high quality across a range of his mediums — some of which have never been showed before. We hope the Mumbai iteration will translate into the same level of anticipation for the artist who was created by it and celebrated here throughout his career and well beyond it.” The exhibition also includes some of his rare sketches, including the concept designs for industrialist DK Modi’s home.
Invocation of Peace, oil on canvas, 1969
Through it all, there is also a glimpse of the artist’s inquisitive intelligence, constantly engaged with ideas from the past and the future. From watercolours to toys to prints, the works capture his playfulness and dynamism. These include archival works such as poetry manuscripts from the late 1950s as well as invitations, preparatory drawings and photographs.
Humanism, Chine collé on paper, 1990
There is another reason for Husain’s deep impact in Indian modernism. Born in Pandharpur, Maharashtra, the artist exploded into public consciousness after India’s Independence. It was also in this period that he joined hands with FN Souza, SH Raza, KN Ara and others to found the Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG).
The artist with Madhuri Dixit at an exhibition of his works in Mumbai
Anand remarks that it was inevitable that the exhibition also explore Husain’s works as a translation of India’s history. “An artist’s genius ultimately lies in his or her longevity, the ability to be relevant not just in the course of their lifetime but for generations to come — a box that Husain ticks comfortably. From the founding of the Progressive Artists’ Group till now, he has remained at the forefront of India’s modern art movement. His contexts might be Indian but they are simultaneously humanitarian and universal.” For the next month, the maestro will return to the island city where he once roamed bare foot.
From: Today to April 25; 11 am to 7 pm
At: DAG Gallery, The Taj Mahal Palace, Apollo Bunder, Colaba.
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