This gem of a quote was told to me by a renowned art-dealer from Mumbai who wishes to remain unnamed. “A lot of people have morbidly waited for this day so that their M.F. Husain paintings escalate in price,” said another art-dealer.
As the glitterati Tweet their shock at M.F. Husain’s passing away in exile this morning (2:30am in London), many of them have been running to art experts for a re-evaluation of their Husain canvases. “I have had a few calls since the news broke,” says the art-dealer, “But we cannot give a proper quotation as yet. It’s too early to say exactly how much his works will sell for now – per square foot,” he emphasizes with dramatic effect.
Yes! M.F. Husain was one of those few artists whose work would sell by the square-foot and up until his passing it was roughly estimated to be approximately Ten Lakh Rupees a square-foot.
However, the one thing most people online seem pretty united about is the utter sadness and humiliation that M.F. Husain died in exile. In 2006 he left India, vowing never to return, after religious fundamentalists / politicians put a price on his head for daring to paint Indian goddesses and even Mother India (Bharat Mata) in the nude.
The 90 years-old artist then packed-up his easel and headed for Qatar where they conferred an honorary citizenship on him four years later (2010). Of course, being a persona non-grata in India, Husain accepted the invitation and in customary style, did a special sketch (below) to commemorate the honour.
In his passing, we in India will probably remember him more for his obsession with Bollywood stars Madhuri Dixit and Amrita Arora and also for his failed attempts at making films – Gaja Gamini in 2000 (starring Madhuri) and Minaxi – A Tale of Three Cities in 2004 (starring Tabu and Kunal Kapoor).
But even this venture veered towards controversy and Minaxi was pulled out of theatres a few days after its release. According to his biography on Wikipedia, this was because – “The All-India Ulema Council complained that the qawalli song Noor-un-Ala-Noor was blasphemous. It argued that the song contained words directly taken from the Quran. The council was supported by Muslim organisations like the Milli Council, All-India Muslim Council, Raza Academy, Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Hind and Jamat-e-Islami.”
As the news of the legends death became public today, actor Abhishek Bachchan tweeted, “Very sad to hear of the passing of M.F. Hussain saab. A wonderful person and a great artist. May his soul rest in peace,” while film-maker Shekhar Kapoor wrote online, “M.F. Husain who seemed ageless, painting till his last days leaves us with one of India’s greatest legacy of art.”