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Heading for a century with a ton of new ideas

M.F. Husain turns 90 today. Here he undertakes a journey down memory lane, looking back at his work and musing how to take it forward

BIRTHDAY BOY! It's time to celebrate for M. F. Husain PHOTO: SATISH

The door is slightly ajar. A steel grey linen jacket and black cotton muffler are draped around a chair awaiting their master. The smell of paint and linseed oil hangs heavy in the room even as the signature, long-handled brush, tubes and bottles of paint are strewn around in careless yet animated anticipation. Stacks of stretched, blank canvases are propped against the walls. Easels are propped with works in several stages of completion awaiting the maestro's touch to turn them into masterpieces.

The evening light gently wafts in, turning everything to pure gold. Like the persona. For gold he is, and his work worth its value in gold several times over. His smile is gentle. And charming. His conversation frequent, peppered with humour that make the corners of his eyes crinkle, even as his eyes twinkle with disarming naughtiness. It is with an effort you recall that M.F. Husain turns 90 today. For the mind is razor sharp, ever willing to create, reinvent and reinterpret. The energy barely concealed. Ever-active, ever-agile.

"This series that I am working on - Husain Decoded - is the first-ever research into my work where I am reinterpreting my own repertoire. The form evolves. It took 18-20 years but when I look back, I see certain restrictions. I am making what I have done earlier, not rejecting it, but taking it a step further, looking ahead, what I couldn't do then I'm doing now - not good for collectors!" he laughs as if he is playing a prank on himself.

The first one

To call Husain merely the enfant terrible of the art world would only be stating the obvious. To him goes the credit for almost single-handedly making Indian art both aesthetically and commercially acceptable on the world art map. Today if Indian art is making its way into museums and serious collections and is a viable investment option, part of the credit must go to him. "Creation and creativity is a given, but to present it well is also an art. You are not cheating anyone. When a work of art is done, then it is a product like any other," he says candidly.

One of the founder members of the Progressive Artistes' Group way back in the 1950s, he has some very fond memories of the times: "No one wanted to buy our works even for 50 rupees! We would try and convince each other to buy some of it - that is, the ones we were not gifting to each other! But in the saga of getting to the top position I discovered so many things. It was a fascinating experience. The feeling that I left some work undone followed me. And yet I have never continued in the same genre, for my travelling exposed me to so many new experiences. Earlier my brush was packed with colour and I was painting like the Impressionists. But now there is a shift - also of how I perceive things around me," he says thoughtfully.

Bashing the media yet using it to his advantage. He has created his own rules and broken each one of them with impunity and even revelled in it! "There are hundreds of painters. So many of them are mediocre and derivative, but that goes on, it is a part of the market forces," he says matter-of-factly.

For someone who has such a huge body of work behind him, there is still that desire to touch perfection one more time with the next work one is doing. "Artists fall into the trap of repeating whatever they get famous for. In the market it is more valuable - history notwithstanding. I think the latest works are always more important, for you grow as a person and consequently as an artist. For the last 40 years, I have been painting horses all these years, so will suddenly not start painting aircrafts! As you look back, 40-60 images are what become the code - I want to take it further, not all, but some landmark ones. Almost discriminating against some. But then you change," he says thoughtfully. And perhaps it is this ability to constantly move from status quo to change that keeps this wonderful man alive and relevant. Even at 90 and hopefully at 100 too....

ALKA RAGHUVANSHI

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