Artist MF Husain, who has been living in self exile for the past 13 years due to threats from Hindu fundamentalists for his works, turned 94 on Thursday. But the doyen of modern Indian art still cannot come back to his homeland because of the threat to his life.

The Government has so far done nothing to bring back the artist.

CNN-IBN show Face the Nation debated: MF Husain turns 94 – should the Government bring Husain home?

On the panel of experts to debate the issue were MF Husain’s counsel Akhil Sibal, MP and Congress Spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan, artist Anjolie Ela Menon, and BJP member Sheshadri Chari.

Is the future for artists and the democratic expression of freedom bleak in India?

Noted artist Anjolie Ela Menon began the debate by saying, “I don’t think so because we have protested every time there is this self-appointed moral police. I remember when the incident took place I was in a television interview which had a large audience and I asked some 200 people that which of them had seen his painting. And not one hand went up. So what were they offended by? The propaganda by the VHP and Bajrang Dal?”

Not agreeing with Menon, BJP member Sheshadri Chari said, “It is not the question of propaganda. We all wish him well and many more years of painting. He is out of India on a self-imposed exile. There is nothing that the Government of India or BJP or RSS can do.”

However, VHP and Bajrang Dal have reportedly said that Husain “has vilified our objects of worship”

To which Chari said, “Forget what the VHP and Bajrang Dal have said. What is the general perception? The perception is that he has painted certain Hindu Gods and Goddesses in the nude. So now it is for MF Husain to come and explain it. When he was asked why did he paint Hitler in the nude he had said those whom he hates and those whom he wants to humiliate he paints them in the nude. This is what he had said in an interview which was even publicised.”

When an artist paints a God or Goddess in the nude does it convey disrespect or humiliation?

“Of course not. If you look back in the history of Indian art it was Ravi Varma who started dressing Gods in clothes of his own times. But there were times which preceded the advent of cloth,” Menon explained.

So then why doesn’t the Government give police protection to Husain? When he wanted to come for the India Art Summit, the Government reportedly did not do anything.

“I don’t speak for the Government. I am not aware what the Maharashtra government has done. But as far as my party is concerned we are of the view that if Mr Husain would like to come back to the country of his birth then he should certainly do so. And if there is any threat to his life then the Government will provide him with protection,” Congress Spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said.

But the Government didn’t do that. During the recently-held India Art Summit the organisers went from pillar to post within the Home Ministry trying for police protection so that they could get Husain for the summit. But it is believed that protection was never given.

“As far as I am aware any citizen who is entitled for protection can ask for it,” Natarajan said.

Regarding the Home Ministry taking up the issue, Natarajan said, “I don’t think it is the highest on our list of priorities at the moment given the acts of terror against the country. We have considerable respect for Mr Husain’s artistic oeuvre, as you put it. He has put contemporary Indian art on the world map. But it is simply not the job of the Government in my view.”

Politicians vs the society

The Delhi High Court has dismissed the obscenity case. The court also said that nudity is part of contemporary art and plays a significant role in India’s cultural heritage.

In the light of this judgment why doesn’t Husain come back and face the charges?

To which Husain’s counsel Akhil Sibal said, “I want to clarify that he is facing the charges. He represented in court, he filed a petition saying these cases are frivolous and legally unstable and he succeeded. So he is not running away. There is no legal impediment preventing him from returning. The more important question is not whether the Government should bring him back but whether the society should bring him back. There is a fringe element which has a very shrill voice but they are not representative of the majority.”

“What Ms Natarajan said is absolutely shocking. This gives out a very strong message,” Sibal added.

Strongly disagreeing with Sibal’s charges, Natarajan said, “No, my words have been taken out of context. I said terrorism is high on the Government’s priority and not an art summit. I did not say that the Government will not provide protection.”

“I am sorry to say but even the clarification is shocking,” said Sibal.

“You have to be careful about the messaging that you are sending out. What you said cannot be the view of the Government surely and if it is then that’s absolutely shocking,” he added.

Freedom of expression

There has been a tradition of nudity and cultural expression in our heritage. Then how can the Hindu groups call Husain’s paintings an insult to Indian heritage?

“I wouldn’t say it is just a Hindu group. I would go back to an interview of Husain which was conducted by a very senior journalist. He was asked why did he paint Hindu Gods in the nude. Husain had replied saying ‘nudity is a metaphor for purity and strength.’ Then the next question that was asked was that would he paint all women characters like Mother Teresa and Fatima also in the nude? Husain had then said that he doesn’t want to answer that question,” Chari said.

Unperturbed by the argument, Menon said, “Husain is today 94 and we really don’t care whether he is on this soil or not. We all go to meet him and I have had a nice ride in his red Ferrari. The world has shrunk so it doesn’t really matter whether he is here or there. If you think he is unhappy then you all are sadly mistaken. Husain is a true karmayogi. His life and his religion is his work. I think everyone is just whipping up an old dead controversy. As long as he is able to work it doesn’t matter where he is.”

“The entire thing against Husain was politically motivated because some of his paintings were very old. They were taken out and made into a pamphlet by DP Sinha and party. It was done just to whip up sentiments amongst people who had never even seen his paintings,” Menon added.

However, the panelists agreed that the issue here is that it is the artists’ freedom that needs to be protected.

Taking about the root of the controversy Chari said, “His painting of Bharat Mata was put up for sale and was going to be inaugurated by then Governor of Maharashtra SM Krishna. But he had then refused to go when he heard that it was a nude painting of Bharat Mata. So it was not about Bajrang Dal or VHP.”

Sibal concluded the debate by saying, “This is completely misconceived argument for the simple reason that Hindu art has a tradition of eroticism mixed with religion and that is exactly what the High Court has also said.”

Final results of the SMS/web poll:

Yes – 43 per cent

No – 57 per cent

The post FTN: Husain in exile; artists need to be protected first appeared on Indian Art News.

Aug. 24: The India Art Summit 2008 ended on a sad note here on Sunday as a group of alleged VHP activists ransacked M.F. Husain’s exhibition in New Delhi.

However, the organisers of the art summit were happy that the fair was able to draw huge crowds, transact brisk commerce and thrash out issues facing the Indian art industry.

The incident took place at around 3.30 pm when a group of around 15 people reached the lawns of the Constitution Club, where the exhibition, organised by NGO Sahmat, was going on. “The protesters, shouting slogans and holding placards reading, ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai, Jai Shri Ram’, reached the lawns and started targeting Husain’s paintings and the exhibition,” said one of the organisers.

“These men came near the paintings and tried to damage them. They were carrying placards with Jai Shri Ram written on them,” a visitor said.

Sahmat decided to organise the exhibition after organisers of the ongoing Art Summit decided not to exhibit paintings of the controversial artist. Some policemen reached the spot soon after the incident but the miscreants had managed to escape by then. Describing the attack as a “cowardly act”, Mr Rajan said, “The DCP of the area had been informed well in advance about a possible disruption but no security was provided making us an easy target.”

Meanwhile, the Indian Art Summit had excluded Husain’s works fearing controversy and trouble. It had issued advisories and guidelines to the galleries to bring non-controversial works, mostly by young contemporary artists to match the theme of the summit.

All the leading art houses and sellers from the country, who were at the fair, missed Husain. “We are all missing the works of Mr Husain. We hope the issue will be solved soon,” a visitor said, adding, “It is a very sad thing to have happened after all the support and encouragement from Union tourism and culture minister Ambika Soni”.

The post VHP men vandalise paintings of Husain first appeared on Indian Art News.

The price curve of Indian art is shooting north in the global market because of ‘increased consciousness’ about it, say experts. This has been brought about by greater visibility of art and artists from the country and easy access to relevant information about Indian art from the internet, they say. “Indian art is becoming a part of international consciousness, which is why we have seen a spectacular growth in this field,” Yamini Mehta, director of modern and contemporary Indian art at the London-based Christie’s, told IANS on e-mail. “Boundaries are becoming more fluid. We are seeing more Indian artists being represented in international museum exhibitions and art fairs. The exposure is helping create newer collectors who actively seek out works by the best of Indian artists to add to their collections,” Mehta said. On June 11, a painting by F.N. Souza, an Indian artist who spent the better part of his life in New York, sold for $2.5 million, while an untitled painting by Tyeb Mehta (Figure in a Rickshaw) fetched 982,050 pounds setting new price records at the Christie’s auction in London. Five of contemporary artist Subodh Gupta’s works were also sold in the same auction at record prices. Gupta’s ‘Bucket,’ an abstract canvas with the symbolic motif of his trademark bucket, was sold for 121,250 pounds while his ‘Magic Wands’ and ‘Cotton Wicks’ were sold for 169,250 pounds and 15,000 pounds respectively. Twelve artists set new records in terms of prices at the auction in London. According to experts, Indian art in general had a higher price profile in almost every international art show this year. A New Delhi-based dealer, Nature Morte, sold a set of three sculptures by Gupta for nearly $1 million, while a painting by rising star T.V. Santosh went out to a British collector for $170,000 at the prestigious Art Basel, the largest fair of modern and contemporary art in Switzerland. Gupta’s seven-metre wide ‘Triptych’ sold for $1 million in the same fair. In March 2008, M.F. Husain’s ‘Battle of Ganga and Jamuna’ sold for $1.6 million in New York. Auction houses and dealers attribute the boom to growing consciousness and appreciation of According to Mehta, the new breed of collectors, who are armed with more money, are incredibly well informed. “They usually look for a combination of three factors in an art work – lineage, the artist and its freshness. “For instance, the ‘The Birth’ by F.N. Souza which sold for a record-breaking price of $2.5 million, had the combination of all the three: it was a large museum quality masterpiece by one of the giants in Indian art and completely fresh to the market,” Mehta said. The freshness of the artwork, experts claimed, was instrumental in pushing up its price. Peter Nagy, director of Nature Morte Gallery in Delhi, which sold almost all its works at the Basel fair, says the increase in price is directly related to the demand for the works and the increased attention that the international art world is paying to contemporary art works coming out of India today.

The post Northward bound first appeared on Indian Art News.

The price curve of Indian art is shooting north in the global market because of “increased consciousness” about it, say experts. This has been brought about by greater visibility of art and artists from the country and easy access to relevant information about Indian art from the internet, they say.
“Indian art is becoming a part of international consciousness, why is why we have seen a spectacular growth in this field,” Yamini Mehta, director of modern and contemporary Indian art at the London-based Christie’s, told IANS on e-mail.
“Boundaries are becoming more fluid. We are seeing more Indian artists being represented in international museum exhibitions and art fairs. The exposure is helping create newer collectors who actively seek out works by the best of Indian artists to add to their collections,” Mehta said.
On June 11, a painting by F.N. Souza, an Indian artist who spent the better part of his life in New York, sold for $2.5 million, while an untitled painting by Tyeb Mehta (Figure in a Rickshaw) fetched 982,050 pounds setting new price records at the Christie’s auction in London.
Five of contemporary artist Subodh Gupta’s works were also sold in the same auction at record prices. Gupta’s “Bucket”, an abstract canvas with the symbolic motif of his trademark bucket, was sold for 121,250 pounds while his “Magic Wands” and “Cotton Wicks” were sold for 169,250 pounds and 15,000 pounds respectively.
Twelve artists set new records in terms of prices at the auction in London.
According to experts, Indian art in general had a higher price profile in almost every international art show this year.
A New Delhi-based dealer, Nature Morte, sold a set of three sculptures by Gupta for nearly $1 million, while a painting by rising star T.V. Santosh went out to a British collector for $170,000 at the prestigious Art Basel, the largest fair of modern and contemporary art in Switzerland. Gupta’s seven-metre wide “Triptych” sold for $1 million in the same fair.
In March 2008, M.F. Husain’s “Battle of Ganga and Jamuna” sold for $1.6 million in New York.
Auction houses and dealers attribute the boom to growing consciousness and appreciation of Indian art internationally.
According to Mehta, the new breed of collectors, who are armed with more money, are incredibly well informed. “They usually look for a combination of three factors in an art work – lineage, the artist and its freshness.
“For instance, the ‘The Birth’ by F.N. Souza which sold for a record-breaking price of $2.5 million, had the combination of all the three: it was a large museum quality masterpiece by one of the giants in Indian art and completely fresh to the market,” Mehta said.
The freshness of the artwork, experts claimed, was instrumental in pushing up its price.
Peter Nagy, director of Nature Morte Gallery in Delhi, which sold almost all its works at the Basel fair, says the increase in price is directly related to the demand for the works and the increased attention that the international art world is paying to contemporary art works coming out of India today.
“This increased attention increases the demand and hence the prices go up,” Nagy told IANS.
Citing Basel as an example, Nagy said the “audience in Switzerland wanted unique Indian works and were not interested in works and prints by Indian artists. However, the prices of the works were dictated by the prices set in India”.
Another factor that determines the price tag is the stiff neck-on-neck bids, especially at auctions, and the wide client base. The competition among bidders triggers an artificial increase in prices.
The phenomenon is also gradually becoming applicable to Indian art, especially in international sales.
Describing the nature of the Christie’s London auction of Asian art, Mehta said the auction hall was packed right from the beginning with clients from across the globe.
“There was also spirited bidding on telephones and through Christie’s LIVE, which is a new platform for our clients to watch the live auction in real time and bid online from the comfort of home or office,” Mehta said.
According to an estimate by the Christie’s, the market for Indian art gathered steam over the last decade, totalling an impressive $42 million in 2006 from just $656,000 in a sale in 2000.
Before that, price milestones were generally one-time. In 2005, Tyeb Mehta’s “Mahisasura” sold for a record $1,584,000.

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