Husainama

A 'ban' on M F Husain is likely to strengthen his prices but drive away the best works from the country.

The controversy is silly, of course, but this is not about the “ban” on M F Husain’s works in India — specifically at the India Art Summit, in New Delhi from August 19-21 — but about its impact on the artist’s work. For those not in the picture, here’s the background. India’s best-known artist faced a fatwa by an extremist Hindu faction when a painting, allegedly of Mother India, raked up the issue of a Muslim artist painting Hindu goddesses in the nude. As a result, Husain fled the country and has been in self-imposed exile for the last three years, living in Dubai and London.

But the lumpen elements have sunk their teeth into the controversy for whatever media coverage they can generate, and threaten to vandalise any exhibition of Husain’s works, as a result of which the India Art Summit in its debut last year, and again this year, has debarred participating galleries from exhibiting his works, citing lack of state security and the vulnerability of expensive art works on display, as their reason.

To say that Hindu divinities have often been represented as ideas, not forms, and that the concept of nudity is a Western construct since it is not intended to be provocative — Shiva and Parvati are represented and worshipped in temples as aspects of fertility, whose form of male and female genitalia emphasises the concept of regeneration, not obscenity — is to state the obvious. But the state, instead of denigrating a few publicity-seeking goons and standing up for the artist, has kept an indifferent silence, which has done more damage to the status of art in the country than even the shrill fundamentalists.

Galleries that keep inventories of Husain’s works are naturally perturbed about the censorship that is being imposed upon them, and art lovers are incensed that they will not get to see his works freely any more, but collectors don’t seem too disturbed because of his bell-weather status. Contemporary collectors apart, almost the first choice of any art collector (and wannabe socialite) is Husain. His style is the most easily recognised in the country, and most people would have at least some idea of his life, the penurious start, the tryst with painting cinema hoardings, his maverick ways, his pet themes — and his ongoing ode to the Indian Civilisation as well as to the pantheon of Hindu gods and goddesses.

Gallerists remain bullish about his prices. While all prices for all art had nosedived, the impact was least felt by the moderns, especially those associated with the Progressive Artists Group, among whom Husain’s prices were steadiest.

There is a good reason Husain’s works have held their price line. Not only does he command a premium as first among his peers, not only does he have market accessibility, but there is something romantic about him, an image that is now being consolidated with his exile.

Then, there is the issue of availability of his works. Even for an artist as prolific as Husain, three years away from India, when no exhibitions of his works have been held (not even participation in group shows), has created a scarcity in the market for his paintings. As a result, prices have strengthened. If they had dropped 30 per cent, on average, because of the impact of the recession on art prices, they are already up 10 to 15 per cent. Nor can his age be easily dismissed. India’s oldest living artist, he is unlikely to produce fresh works — his current assignment is painting the great Arabic Civilisation on a commission from the West Asian emirs, and that is unlikely to ever hit the market. Therefore, Husain, as far as collectors are concerned, has pretty much painted all that he had to, and therefore expect a hardening of prices, especially on account of the “ban”.

The fallout of the so-called ban, or exile, is not just on Husain’s prices. A major loss is that the last three years have not seen the distribution of any new work by the artist in India. All new work in this period has sold directly in markets outside the country. If the West, largely, and West Asia, in bits, has been the gainer, the potential for loss of more Husain artworks has only just begun. Already, his works are being consigned for sale through international auction houses Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonhams for most part, and it is possible that sellers even from India would prefer to post their Husains for sale overseas rather than in India — both for reasons of value realisation as well as security. India’s loss in terms of artistic merit will likely be incalculable. The West will get to see, and keep, his best works (other than those in permanent collections such as the National Gallery of Modern Art).

It’s time to bring Husain back home — if only to ensure that this country gets to keep his legacy as its due.