The Man and The Artist

The Man and The Artist

This is a portrait of a completely misunderstood and extraordinary artist of our times; Ila Pal, author of this book, is an artist herself and being Husain’s friend for over four decades, had deep access to his thoughts and memories. This book is a must read and provides a great deal of answers to the controversial events in the artist’s life.

This is an honest account of the life and thoughts of the artist, and the best part is Pal is not even trying to advocate Husain’s innocence. She writes:

“Once I got down to writing this biography, not only did I record the story of his life, leading him down memory lane, also honed in to immediate happenings and conflicts. I probed him about the women he loved, the controversies he had courted and the gimmicks he had indulged in. These conversations, lengthy at times, do not necessarily fit in with chronological narrative of Husain’s life, but are as important, if not more, to understand Husain the man. Constantly indulging in the balancing act of keeping his friends happy and patrons pleased, he worked hard to strike a deal and yet remained hard to get. He manipulated even as he got manipulated. His handling of time was reminiscent of table wizards who, while remaining within a time cycle, perform extraordinary mathematical feats. In his hands, time became elastic and he could stretch it to accommodate the increasing girth of his goings-on. But … it snapped too. Here, interleaved with the main text, rather taking over from it, are the pieces which cover the significant and not so significant happenings of his life. Sometimes plumbing great depths and at other times just glossing over, these pieces, in all accounts, create an authentic portrait of Husain.”

This book is also important and enlightening for artists like me, as time and again the discussions in the book provide an interesting insight into the master’s thought process. Here is how Husain reflects on the creative process:

“What is that results in the same painter creating a masterpiece and the next mediocre? What does he stop short of, which creates a mystery and what does he overdo which dissipates the mystery — no painter knows that fully. To the extent that he knows, he is different from a child, who paints one brilliant picture, maybe even the next, but does not know why it is good, what caused it. The painter may not quite grasp the magic; he may not even be interested in it, but that he can create the magic almost each time, but not always. And this, a painter must know and admit.”

It is not very difficult to relate to the Portrait of an artist by Pal for anyone who had an opportunity to meet the artist in person, briefly or only even once in life. I had several opportunities to meet Husain saheb on several occasions and I could cross all the hurdles in my early days of art because of the influence of his great spirit and personality.

(The author is a city-based contemporary artist and was a close acquaintance of M F Husain)

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