Maqbool Fida Husain (born in 1915, Pandharpur, Maharastra) popularly known as MF Husain is the best known Indian artist in the world. The Forbes magazine1 had once described Husain as the "Picasso of India".
Husain had started as a billboard artist in the 1940s and then entered the art field in 1940s when Francis Newton Souza was founding the Progressive Artists' Group. This was a clique of young artists who wished to break with the nationalist traditions established by the Bengal school of art and to establish an Indian avant-garde, engaged at an international level.
In 1952 Husain's solo exhibition was held at Zurich and ever since in many cities around the globe.
Controversies alongside fame had been a regular part of MF Husain's persona. In 1996, some of Husain's old works depicting Hindu goddesses in the nude caught the ire of the right-wing extremists in India. Since then Husain has been dragged to many court cases, and has even been physically threatened by his opposers.
Since 2007, Husain has left Mumbai, his earlier home for ever and is settled now in Dubai. In Dubai as in Mumbai earlier, Husain is presented mostly by Pundole Gallery.
