Audio Feature: M.F. Husain at Center of India Art Controversy

[Guest guest]

[i heard this yesterday afternoon on the " All Things Considered "

program of the U.S.'s National Public Radio. It is a really well done

radio feature, including interviews with Husain himself, his

supporters and his detractors. It's only a few minutes long, but I

think it really lays out the fundamental issues both usefully and

accurately. Highly recommended. - DB]

 

RADIO FEATURE (follow link and click " Listen " button):

http://tinyurl.com/2hrabv

 

M.F. HUSAIN IN THE CENTER OF INDIA ART CONTROVERSY

 

by Philip Reeves

 

All Things Considered, May 29, 2007 · Artists in India say they're

being subjected to the worst campaign of politically inspired

censorship in years.

 

They say that what they term a " moral police of cultural vigilantes "

have targeted art, literature and films. The issue has thrown the

focus back to the case of one man, believed by many to be the father

of modern Indian art: M.F. Husain.

 

Some years back, Husain, who's Muslim, painted some works in which

Hindu deities were picture in the nude. There was a huge outcry from

hardline Hindu activists. They attacked a gallery and destroyed some

of his works.

 

Some people compare M.F. Husain with Picasso, but he disagrees.

 

" I am an Indian and a painter, that's all, " Husain, 92, says.

 

Husain fails to mention he is perhaps the biggest figure in the

artistic life of one of the world's most populous nations.

 

" If you go out on an Indian street, you will see a splurge of color

which is just unparalleled anywhere in the world, " says Rajeev

Dhavan, an author and advocate in India's Supreme Court. " You take

all those colors and put them all in the mind of Husain with an

element of structure in them and you see something that is quite

magnificent in his range of art. "

 

Visual artist and activist Ram Rahman says Husain represents a new

India.

 

" For many of us he has been a symbol of the new India that came up

after Independence, " Rahman says. " Secular, modern India. A culture

which was shared by all. And he's been remarkable as a contemporary

artist because he's one of †" actually he's the only artist who has

mined our mythological traditions. "

 

You won't find Husain at home. These days he prefers to stay away

from India, despite what Dhavan calls " the wishes of his countrymen. "

 

He mostly spreads his time between Dubai and London.

 

" India reveres Husain, " Dhavan says. " It is politically motivated

Hindus who have decided to target him as somebody whom they take

great exception to in the hope that these terribly cowardly acts that

they indulge in will win them support in society and votes when it

comes to voting for the right-wing Hindu parties of India. "

 

Not long ago, the activists mobilized again. This time, Husain had

done a painting in which a map of India is portrayed as a semi-naked

woman †" an image assumed to represent the sacred mother India.

 

The hardliners got a court order to seize Husain's property †"

although the order was put on hold by the Supreme Court.

 

Husain supporters point out that in India, there's nothing uncommon

about erotic religious images, including naked figures carved in

ancient temples.

 

" And the sad thing is that it's having a terrible impact on our

contemporary culture because once you unleash a campaign of hatred as

they have done, it gets very hard to pull back from it, " Rahman says.

 

Other artists have been attacked as well.

 

A protest recently broke out in New Delhi over a student-produced

image of the Hindu Deity Kali wielding weapons and giving birth.

 

Art professor Parul Dave Mukherjee says the student's work hadn't yet

gone on public display.

 

The debate over the boundaries of free speech in India goes beyond

paintings. It's also about the rise in raunchy Western-style material

in India's media. Even the smallest incident can trigger outrage, as

Richard Gere found out when he publicly kissed the actress Shilpa

Shetty.

 

" We always try to cover our own bodies and at least our Mother

Goddess. We always try to have the best of images of our Mother

Goddess not naked images, " says Ashwini Mahajan of the radical Hindu

VHP group.

 

At 92, Husain still paints for five hours a day. His works sell for

millions.

 

" Mostly people are ignorant, what is the language of painting. You

know, they're ignorant. It is so difficult to make them aware, but

time will teach them, " he says.

 

Many say it will be important to the future of artists for Husain to

return to his native India.

 

" For the artist community here Husain, if he dies outside our

country, it's a shame that we will never overcome, " Rahman says.

 

SOURCE: National Public Radio

URL: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10438377

[Guest guest]

all very nice and hoity tot or whatever. But pray! may I ask a question? Why is

his muslim themes always well dressed and why is his family all painted well

dressed?? Will he dare paint Mohammed or Fatima his sister in the nude? If he

does all this hoity toty talk will be of no use nor will he be able to hide in

Dubai as he does now.

Please do not forget that he was hauled up before ourt earlier and he

apologised. Then why did he do it again? That I think is the islamic cuseedness

in him with the feeling " we can do anything to the kaffirs " . " we " being muslims.

Then why the hell did he not migrate to Porkistan? Can he have this sort of

freedom there? not at all!! so he remains in India where in teh name of

secularism anything an be done to Hindus while the Porkis and vatianists an do

anything.

Look at Kerala now. Thousands of acres of public land has been encroached and

built up by Porkistanis and vaticanists thumbing their nose against law and

authority. Now here is a chief minister who cannot be bribed who declares that

all the Governmental land will be vacated and recovered. Who cries foul? Muslims

and Christians ALONE (ie. almost) and cry is minority harassment. Truth 90% of

the violators of law belong to these two groups. And Hussain is a representative

of this group who uses the minority status to thumb nose at the law abiding

majority.

 

Devi Bhakta <devi_bhakta wrote:

[i heard this yesterday afternoon on the " All Things Considered "

program of the U.S.'s National Public Radio. It is a really well done

radio feature, including interviews with Husain himself, his

supporters and his detractors. It's only a few minutes long, but I

think it really lays out the fundamental issues both usefully and

accurately. Highly recommended. - DB]

 

RADIO FEATURE (follow link and click " Listen " button):

http://tinyurl.com/2hrabv

 

M.F. HUSAIN IN THE CENTER OF INDIA ART CONTROVERSY

 

by Philip Reeves

 

All Things Considered, May 29, 2007 · Artists in India say they're

being subjected to the worst campaign of politically inspired

censorship in years.

 

They say that what they term a " moral police of cultural vigilantes "

have targeted art, literature and films. The issue has thrown the

focus back to the case of one man, believed by many to be the father

of modern Indian art: M.F. Husain.

 

Some years back, Husain, who's Muslim, painted some works in which

Hindu deities were picture in the nude. There was a huge outcry from

hardline Hindu activists. They attacked a gallery and destroyed some

of his works.

 

Some people compare M.F. Husain with Picasso, but he disagrees.

 

" I am an Indian and a painter, that's all, " Husain, 92, says.

 

Husain fails to mention he is perhaps the biggest figure in the

artistic life of one of the world's most populous nations.

 

" If you go out on an Indian street, you will see a splurge of color

which is just unparalleled anywhere in the world, " says Rajeev

Dhavan, an author and advocate in India's Supreme Court. " You take

all those colors and put them all in the mind of Husain with an

element of structure in them and you see something that is quite

magnificent in his range of art. "

 

Visual artist and activist Ram Rahman says Husain represents a new

India.

 

" For many of us he has been a symbol of the new India that came up

after Independence, " Rahman says. " Secular, modern India. A culture

which was shared by all. And he's been remarkable as a contemporary

artist because he's one of †" actually he's the only artist who has

mined our mythological traditions. "

 

You won't find Husain at home. These days he prefers to stay away

from India, despite what Dhavan calls " the wishes of his countrymen. "

 

He mostly spreads his time between Dubai and London.

 

" India reveres Husain, " Dhavan says. " It is politically motivated

Hindus who have decided to target him as somebody whom they take

great exception to in the hope that these terribly cowardly acts that

they indulge in will win them support in society and votes when it

comes to voting for the right-wing Hindu parties of India. "

 

Not long ago, the activists mobilized again. This time, Husain had

done a painting in which a map of India is portrayed as a semi-naked

woman †" an image assumed to represent the sacred mother India.

 

The hardliners got a court order to seize Husain's property †"

although the order was put on hold by the Supreme Court.

 

Husain supporters point out that in India, there's nothing uncommon

about erotic religious images, including naked figures carved in

ancient temples.

 

" And the sad thing is that it's having a terrible impact on our

contemporary culture because once you unleash a campaign of hatred as

they have done, it gets very hard to pull back from it, " Rahman says.

 

Other artists have been attacked as well.

 

A protest recently broke out in New Delhi over a student-produced

image of the Hindu Deity Kali wielding weapons and giving birth.

 

Art professor Parul Dave Mukherjee says the student's work hadn't yet

gone on public display.

 

The debate over the boundaries of free speech in India goes beyond

paintings. It's also about the rise in raunchy Western-style material

in India's media. Even the smallest incident can trigger outrage, as

Richard Gere found out when he publicly kissed the actress Shilpa

Shetty.

 

" We always try to cover our own bodies and at least our Mother

Goddess. We always try to have the best of images of our Mother

Goddess not naked images, " says Ashwini Mahajan of the radical Hindu

VHP group.

 

At 92, Husain still paints for five hours a day. His works sell for

millions.

 

" Mostly people are ignorant, what is the language of painting. You

know, they're ignorant. It is so difficult to make them aware, but

time will teach them, " he says.

 

Many say it will be important to the future of artists for Husain to

return to his native India.

 

" For the artist community here Husain, if he dies outside our

country, it's a shame that we will never overcome, " Rahman says.

 

SOURCE: National Public Radio

URL: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10438377

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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