Monday, March 18, 2013

M. F. Husain Revisited





Photocollage of M. F. Husain by Deepak Harichandan, from "The Husain Conundrum", 
by Sunil Murthy (Click here for the article in The Hindu newspaper, 9 March 2013)

I came across this collage portrait of M. F. Husain and stared at it for a long while, trying to isolate individual pieces from his artistic work. In my mind's eye, I made up the entire canvas from which it had been so beautifully scrapped to construct the plastic surgery required for the portraiture. I have only one reservation: the eyes. They do not belong to Husain, they are not Husain. They are great and cheery, but the depth and pathos have gone missing. However, this very personal observation of mine does not prevent me from congratulating the artist, Deepak Harichandan, and sending him my kudos.

Here, I cannot resist repeating my earlier posting on this blog of my happenstance, accidental, but quintessential Husain, which I had posted in October 2012. I am sure that some or many defects can be found, and I would take the criticism without rancour:



My mason/electrician broke the wall to reach the concealed innards of pipes and electric wires. As one would expect, he/they left the wall in a mess, but not before my discovery that, beyond the holes that they had made in the wall, the sides and the top had chipped paint which instantly made me see none other than the maestro, M. F. Hussain. I kept on deferring the repair until I found out that I should take a picture and show the accidental and incredible similitude that, by happenstance, had happened. So, here is the Before and After.

I was fortunate to meet him when he came to Madras for the first time in 1971/72, and had an exchange, which did not contain the promise of world fame that he embodied at that time. It is ironic that my only memory from that one-hour chat with him at the art gallery at Connemara Hotel, now Taj Vivanta, was that he was so proud of not wearing any footwear. He told me stories about how he travelled barefooted on airport tarmacs and wherever he went, and that if he went to the moon also, he would be without even sandals.

To the abundance of tributes which filled Hussain's life, here is mine.

The Inspirational Wall

1 comment:

Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy said...

Tasveer banaata hun teri
Khoon-e-jigar se
Khoon-e-jigar se

......
Jitne bhi mile rang woh
Sab bhar diya tujhme haaye
Bhar diya tujhme
Ek rang-e-wafa aur hain
Laoon woh kidhar se arey
Laoon woh kidhar se.....