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London Art Gallery Closes M.F. Husain Exhibition After Paintings Vandalised

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LONDON (July 3, 2006): On May 22, London's Asia House Gallery shut

down a major exhibition by 91-year-old Maqbool Fida Husain, India's

most famous contemporary artist, after three men entered the gallery

and defaced two of his paintings—Durga and Draupadi.

 

The exhibition, "M.F. Husain: Early Masterpieces 1950-70s," was

opened on May 10 by Indian high commissioner Kamalesh Sharma and

scheduled to run until August 5. Damage to the works, which were

sprayed with black paint, is estimated to be at least £200,000.

According to one press report, the gallery was denied insurance for

the Husain exhibition following the attack.

 

While no one has admitted responsibility, the London-based Hindu

Human Rights and the Hindu Forum of Britain, which are linked to

right-wing fundamentalist formations in India, had demanded closure

of the Asia House exhibit, claiming that it contained "obscene

images of Hindu goddesses." The Hindu Human Rights group had also

planned a demonstration outside the gallery on May 27.

 

A statement by British-based Indian academics denounced the Hindu

Human Rights and the Hindu Forum of Britain. It declared that these

organisations were using "the same tactics" as Hindu fundamentalist

organisations in India and were "undermining India's constitutional

right to freedom of thought and expression."

 

Awaaz South Asia Watch, a web site that monitors religious hatred in

South Asia and Britain, pointed out that the Hindu Forum of Britain

had "actively supported or defended" the activities of the Hindu

supremacists Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the associated

World Hindu Council (Vishwa Hindu Parishad or VHP). These

organisations are notorious for fomenting communalist attacks on

Muslims and anything deemed to be "insulting Hinduism."

 

Economist and Labour peer Meghnad Desai described the vandalism

as "an outrageous attack on artistic freedom in the British context"

and claimed that, "the objection to Husain is not the so-called

obscenity of his paintings. It is because he is a Muslim and hence

the desire of some Hindu groups to deny his artistic freedom to take

Hindu gods and goddesses as his theme."

 

Notwithstanding these statements, there has been little reportage in

the British media, apart from one article and a couple of letters in

the Guardian newspaper. Nor have any leading British artists or

intellectuals condemned the vandalisation of Husain's work or the

show's closure.

 

At the same time, Asia House has capitulated to the Hindu chauvinist

agitation and expunged all reference to the Husain exhibition from

its web site. When contacted by WSWS reporters, Asia House cultural

director Katriana Hazell would only repeat that the show had been

closed for "security reasons" and that the situation was "complex."

Hazell refused to elaborate or comment on the questions of artistic

freedom and on her attitude to demands from the Hindu

fundamentalists.

 

HUSAIN TARGETED SINCE 1996

 

M. F. Husain has been painting for more than 70 years and is

internationally acclaimed for his work. Some of his paintings

include naked images of various Hindu deities as well as mythical

Indian characters, which aroused the wrath of the Hindu

fundamentalists. For examples of Husain's art see:

 

http://www.contemporaryindianart.com/m_f_husain.htm and

http://www.mfhussain.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&cat=2

 

According to Husain, whose aim is to create new forms of secular

Indian art, the Durga painting "celebrates the joy, the colour of

life and has no intention of causing any offence to anyone." As he

has constantly explained, ancient 5,000 year old Indian temples

depict "pure and uncovered" images of deities and that "nudity is

not nakedness [but] a form of innocence and maturity ..."

 

In a comment published before the exhibition, he declared: "For the

last 50 years, an enlightened body of Indian painters has been

engaged in reconnecting the reality of the ancient cultural heritage

to our time. As in every human endeavour, faith is at the core of it

all. With great care and reverence for all faiths, the Indian sub-

continent has evolved a unique secular culture. I am a humble

contributor towards the creation of a great Indian composite

culture."

 

Vandal attacks by religious extremists against Husain first began in

October 1996, when Bajrang Dal members (the youth section of the RSS-

VHP) forced their way into the Husain-Doshi Gufa Art Gallery in

Ahmedabad and destroyed about 23 tapestries and 28 paintings by

Husain, including his Hanuman and Madhuri Dixit series and a

depiction of the Last Supper. Their pretext was Husain's

controversial 1976 "nude" sketch of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of

art and knowledge.

 

Two years later in 1998, Husain's home in Bombay was broken into and

damaged by fundamentalists protesting over his paintings of Hindu

deities Hanuman and Sita.

 

As well as targeting Husain, Hindu extremists have also attacked

Indian historians, artists and filmmakers. In early 2000, for

example, filmmaker Deepa Mehta was forced to abandon production in

India of her film Water, which dramatises the plight of Hindu widows

and "inter-caste" relationships, after Hindu fundamentalists

destroyed film sets and threatened the cast and crew in Varanasi.

The movie was eventually shot secretly in Sri Lanka and released in

Canada in late 2005.

 

In India's Gujarat state, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

holds power, the organisation's youth wing have recently mounted

protests against Bollywood actor and producer Aamir Khan and forced

cinema owners to ban screenings of his latest film Fanaa, a

Bollywood romance.

 

Khan was singled out not because of anything in the movie but

because he has publicly opposed Hindu extremist violence and

campaigned for decent compensation and relocation for the 35,000

people who will be displaced by Narmada Dam project.

 

Early this year fundamentalists once again turned their attention to

Husain, mounting street protests and demanding legal action over

Mother India, Husain's painting for Mission Kashmir, an organisation

that raised funds for victims of the October 2005 earthquake. The

painting depicts a naked woman combined with the map of India. Shiv

Sena (Army of Shiva) party leader Bhagwan Goel publicly declared

that he would pay a half-million rupee reward for anyone who cut off

one of Husain's arms.

 

In late March a court in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, ruled that Husain

had "offended" Hindus and asked police to register a case against

him. The order came following a VHP petition, alleging that the

artist had portrayed Hindu gods and goddesses in an "objectionable"

manner and was "disturbing communal harmony."

 

These blatant violations of Husain's democratic rights, however,

became even more serious in May when India's central government, the

ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), joined the

assault.

 

On May 5, a few days before the opening of Husain's London

exhibition, the UPA instructed Mumbai and Delhi police to

take "appropriate" action against the 91-year-old, declaring that

his work had the potential to "hurt religious feelings."

 

This directive, which came from the Home Ministry, after

consultation with the government's Law Ministry, is unprecedented.

It is the first time Husain has been targeted by the Congress-led

regime, which claims to be secular and oppose Hindu fundamentalism.

 

The UPA moves against Husain were no doubt a key factor in

encouraging those who vandalised the London exhibition and clearly

demonstrate that the Congress-led government has only tactical

differences with the Hindu fundamentalists.

 

Despite Congress's posturing as a secular movement, a claim that

stems from its role in the struggle against British colonial rule,

it has always exploited communalism at key crisis points. That the

Congress government has bowed down to the Hindu fundamentalists on

this most basic democratic question—freedom of expression—is a

reflection that it is facing a deepening political crisis.

 

Congress' surprise victory in the 2004 Indian elections reflected

widespread hostility against the BJP-led government and its pro-

market program. Two years on, the UPA is imposing the same economic

measures which are widening the gulf between rich and poor. It has

joined the anti-Husain campaign in a bid to prove own communal

credentials and undermine the ability of the BJP to exploit the

issue.

 

 

SOURCE: World SOcialist Web Site. London art gallery closes M.F.

Husain exhibition after paintings vandalised. By Ajay Prakash, 3

July 2006

URL: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jul2006/husa-j03.shtml

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DB,

With all due respects, although normally where there is smoke there is fire (i.e. there is always a grain of truth to things of this nature that are reported), do you seriously think that an article from the WORLD SOCIALIST WEBSITE is going to be very subjective about things of this nature? Just a thought.

TATASTHU,

JANARDANA DASA

Devi Bhakta <devi_bhakta > wrote:

LONDON (July 3, 2006): On May 22, London's Asia House Gallery shut

down a major exhibition by 91-year-old Maqbool Fida Husain, India's

most famous contemporary artist, after three men entered the gallery

and defaced two of his paintings—Durga and Draupadi.

 

The exhibition, "M.F. Husain: Early Masterpieces 1950-70s," was

opened on May 10 by Indian high commissioner Kamalesh Sharma and

scheduled to run until August 5. Damage to the works, which were

sprayed with black paint, is estimated to be at least £200,000.

According to one press report, the gallery was denied insurance for

the Husain exhibition following the attack.

 

While no one has admitted responsibility, the London-based Hindu

Human Rights and the Hindu Forum of Britain, which are linked to

right-wing fundamentalist formations in India, had demanded closure

of the Asia House exhibit, claiming that it contained "obscene

images of Hindu goddesses." The Hindu Human Rights group had also

planned a demonstration outside the gallery on May 27.

 

A statement by British-based Indian academics denounced the Hindu

Human Rights and the Hindu Forum of Britain. It declared that these

organisations were using "the same tactics" as Hindu fundamentalist

organisations in India and were "undermining India's constitutional

right to freedom of thought and expression."

 

Awaaz South Asia Watch, a web site that monitors religious hatred in

South Asia and Britain, pointed out that the Hindu Forum of Britain

had "actively supported or defended" the activities of the Hindu

supremacists Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the associated

World Hindu Council (Vishwa Hindu Parishad or VHP). These

organisations are notorious for fomenting communalist attacks on

Muslims and anything deemed to be "insulting Hinduism."

 

Economist and Labour peer Meghnad Desai described the vandalism

as "an outrageous attack on artistic freedom in the British context"

and claimed that, "the objection to Husain is not the so-called

obscenity of his paintings. It is because he is a Muslim and hence

the desire of some Hindu groups to deny his artistic freedom to take

Hindu gods and goddesses as his theme."

 

Notwithstanding these statements, there has been little reportage in

the British media, apart from one article and a couple of letters in

the Guardian newspaper. Nor have any leading British artists or

intellectuals condemned the vandalisation of Husain's work or the

show's closure.

 

At the same time, Asia House has capitulated to the Hindu chauvinist

agitation and expunged all reference to the Husain exhibition from

its web site. When contacted by WSWS reporters, Asia House cultural

director Katriana Hazell would only repeat that the show had been

closed for "security reasons" and that the situation was "complex."

Hazell refused to elaborate or comment on the questions of artistic

freedom and on her attitude to demands from the Hindu

fundamentalists.

 

HUSAIN TARGETED SINCE 1996

 

M. F. Husain has been painting for more than 70 years and is

internationally acclaimed for his work. Some of his paintings

include naked images of various Hindu deities as well as mythical

Indian characters, which aroused the wrath of the Hindu

fundamentalists. For examples of Husain's art see:

 

http://www.contemporaryindianart.com/m_f_husain.htm and

http://www.mfhussain.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&cat=2

 

According to Husain, whose aim is to create new forms of secular

Indian art, the Durga painting "celebrates the joy, the colour of

life and has no intention of causing any offence to anyone." As he

has constantly explained, ancient 5,000 year old Indian temples

depict "pure and uncovered" images of deities and that "nudity is

not nakedness [but] a form of innocence and maturity ..."

 

In a comment published before the exhibition, he declared: "For the

last 50 years, an enlightened body of Indian painters has been

engaged in reconnecting the reality of the ancient cultural heritage

to our time. As in every human endeavour, faith is at the core of it

all. With great care and reverence for all faiths, the Indian sub-

continent has evolved a unique secular culture. I am a humble

contributor towards the creation of a great Indian composite

culture."

 

Vandal attacks by religious extremists against Husain first began in

October 1996, when Bajrang Dal members (the youth section of the RSS-

VHP) forced their way into the Husain-Doshi Gufa Art Gallery in

Ahmedabad and destroyed about 23 tapestries and 28 paintings by

Husain, including his Hanuman and Madhuri Dixit series and a

depiction of the Last Supper. Their pretext was Husain's

controversial 1976 "nude" sketch of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of

art and knowledge.

 

Two years later in 1998, Husain's home in Bombay was broken into and

damaged by fundamentalists protesting over his paintings of Hindu

deities Hanuman and Sita.

 

As well as targeting Husain, Hindu extremists have also attacked

Indian historians, artists and filmmakers. In early 2000, for

example, filmmaker Deepa Mehta was forced to abandon production in

India of her film Water, which dramatises the plight of Hindu widows

and "inter-caste" relationships, after Hindu fundamentalists

destroyed film sets and threatened the cast and crew in Varanasi.

The movie was eventually shot secretly in Sri Lanka and released in

Canada in late 2005.

 

In India's Gujarat state, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

holds power, the organisation's youth wing have recently mounted

protests against Bollywood actor and producer Aamir Khan and forced

cinema owners to ban screenings of his latest film Fanaa, a

Bollywood romance.

 

Khan was singled out not because of anything in the movie but

because he has publicly opposed Hindu extremist violence and

campaigned for decent compensation and relocation for the 35,000

people who will be displaced by Narmada Dam project.

 

Early this year fundamentalists once again turned their attention to

Husain, mounting street protests and demanding legal action over

Mother India, Husain's painting for Mission Kashmir, an organisation

that raised funds for victims of the October 2005 earthquake. The

painting depicts a naked woman combined with the map of India. Shiv

Sena (Army of Shiva) party leader Bhagwan Goel publicly declared

that he would pay a half-million rupee reward for anyone who cut off

one of Husain's arms.

 

In late March a court in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, ruled that Husain

had "offended" Hindus and asked police to register a case against

him. The order came following a VHP petition, alleging that the

artist had portrayed Hindu gods and goddesses in an "objectionable"

manner and was "disturbing communal harmony."

 

These blatant violations of Husain's democratic rights, however,

became even more serious in May when India's central government, the

ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), joined the

assault.

 

On May 5, a few days before the opening of Husain's London

exhibition, the UPA instructed Mumbai and Delhi police to

take "appropriate" action against the 91-year-old, declaring that

his work had the potential to "hurt religious feelings."

 

This directive, which came from the Home Ministry, after

consultation with the government's Law Ministry, is unprecedented.

It is the first time Husain has been targeted by the Congress-led

regime, which claims to be secular and oppose Hindu fundamentalism.

 

The UPA moves against Husain were no doubt a key factor in

encouraging those who vandalised the London exhibition and clearly

demonstrate that the Congress-led government has only tactical

differences with the Hindu fundamentalists.

 

Despite Congress's posturing as a secular movement, a claim that

stems from its role in the struggle against British colonial rule,

it has always exploited communalism at key crisis points. That the

Congress government has bowed down to the Hindu fundamentalists on

this most basic democratic question—freedom of expression—is a

reflection that it is facing a deepening political crisis.

 

Congress' surprise victory in the 2004 Indian elections reflected

widespread hostility against the BJP-led government and its pro-

market program. Two years on, the UPA is imposing the same economic

measures which are widening the gulf between rich and poor. It has

joined the anti-Husain campaign in a bid to prove own communal

credentials and undermine the ability of the BJP to exploit the

issue.

 

SOURCE: World SOcialist Web Site. London art gallery closes M.F.

Husain exhibition after paintings vandalised. By Ajay Prakash, 3

July 2006

URL: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jul2006/husa-j03.shtml

 

 

 

 

 

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Pranams Janardana Dasa:

 

You are quite right, of course. This article is (like many of the

newspaper and magazine accounts we post here) very clearly an

editorial perspective penned six weeks after the event, not an

objective news account published the following day. That's why I

always like to include the source and URL at the end of the post, so

that the reader can judge its relative trustworthiness. In this

case, if you think socialism is an unreliable worldview, you are

certainly free to disagree with the opinions expressed by Mr.

Prakash.

 

But in my opinion, the interest of this story lies precisely in the

subjective reactions it provokes. The bare bones of the story are,

unfortunately, nothing very original (i.e. "Vandals Deface

Paintings" -- that's life, eh?). But the bigger "how?" and "why?"

questions are vital and relevant: what it all means, whether the

paintings are really an affront to Hindus, whether the perpetrators

are common thugs or defenders of the faith, whether and when such

responses to art are justified, whether this is a symptom that

Hinduism has endured insult long enough, etc., etc.

 

You and I are in complete agreement that this is simply one voice in

the choir.

 

DB

 

, Janardana Dasa

<lightdweller wrote:

>

> DB,

>

> With all due respects, although normally where there is smoke

there is fire (i.e. there is always a grain of truth to things of

this nature that are reported), do you seriously think that an

article from the WORLD SOCIALIST WEBSITE is going to be very [ob]-

jective about things of this nature? Just a thought.

>

> TATASTHU,

>

> JANARDANA DASA

>

> Devi Bhakta <devi_bhakta wrote:

> LONDON (July 3, 2006): On May 22, London's Asia House

Gallery shut

> down a major exhibition by 91-year-old Maqbool Fida Husain,

India's

> most famous contemporary artist, after three men entered the

gallery

> and defaced two of his paintings—Durga and Draupadi.

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