Maqbool Fida Husain, better known as M.F. Hussain would have been celebrating his 100th birthday today had it not been for that sad day two years ago.
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M.F. Husain was not merely the most recognisable name in Indian contemporary art. His paintings, marked by a signature style and a desire to explore the abstract through the figurative, were also the most easily identifiable. While geometrical figures are being used for the doodle; circles are used to represent the letters G O O E leaving the illustration of MF Husain and a paint brush in his hand to represent the second G and L; to complete the word GOOGLE. If that was not enough, a section of people who took to social media to express their astonishment at Google choosing the late artist for its tribute and not Narendra Modi., while the rest joined in on the rituals of wishing the famed painter a Happy Birthday.
As a filmmaker he made “Gaja Gamini” (2000) with Madhuri Dixit in 2000 and “Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities” (2004) with Tabu. He was earlier honoured with Padma Shree (1966), Padma Bhushan (1973) and Padma Vibhushan (1991). The movie was showcased at the Berlin Film Festival and won the Golden Bear short film award.
He was born in Pandharpur, Maharashtra.
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Husain’s blend of modernism with Indian iconography was unique and his paintings fetched records at auctions. From 2006 until his death in 2011, Husain lived in a self-imposed exile in Doha and London.
