M.F.HUSAIN IS NO MORE

M F Husain died aged 95 on 9 June 2011 after being unwell for several months. He died at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, and is due to be buried in the city on 10 June 2011. India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh said his death was a "national loss", and India's President Pratibha Patil said his death "left a void in the world of art." The actress Shabana Azmi called him an "iconoclastic painter, a wonderful human being and a very good friend". Talking about his self-imposed exile and death outside of India painter Akbar Padamsee said that it was a "pity that a painter as important as Husain had to die outside his own country because of a crowd of miscreants".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._F._Husain

Legendary canvas turns blank, M F Hussain is no mor

PTI | 05:06 PM,Jun 09,2011

"I had a guru called Mohammad Ishaq � I studied the holy texts with him for two years. I also read and discussed Gita and Upanishads and Puranas. This made me completely calm".

Hussain's passing away sparked a wave of tweets, online postings and re-run of interviews with him on television and online news, acknowledging his stature as one of India's greatest artists.

 Many recalled that he was branded by Western art critics as 'India's Picasso'. Hussain had always insisted that his heart remained in India and that "99 per cent" Indians loved him. He said in an interview: "For me, India means a celebration of life.

 You cannot find that same quality anywhere in the world. I never wanted to be clever, esoteric, abstract. I wanted to make simple statements. I wanted my canvasses to have a story.

I wanted my art to talk to people". Three of Hussain paintings recently topped a Bonham's auction, going under the hammer for Rs 2.32 crore with an untitled oil work in which the legendary artist combined his iconic subject matters -- horse and woman -- fetching Rs 1.23 crore alone.

In 1955, he was awarded the Padma Shree. In 1967, he made his first film, Through the Eyes of a Painter that was shown at the Berlin Film Festival and won a Golden Bear. Husain was a special invitee along with Pablo Picasso at the Sao Paulo Biennial in 1971.

He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1973 and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1986.In 1991, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan. He also produced and directed a few movies, including Gaja Gamini with his muse Madhuri Dixit who was the subject of a series of his paintings which he signed as Fida.

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/legendary-canvas-turns-blank-m-f-hussain-is-no-more/720583.html