Page 14 - M F Husain The Eternal Master

rapidly than traditional hoarding painters, and create poster life by marrying Fazila. As the family grew, financial
art which was much more attractive. responsibilities mounted, leading Husain to relinquish this
Husain worked as a cinema-hoarding painter for career. He found employment designing nursery furniture
nearly five years. During this time, he became an assistant to and wooden toys at the Fantasy Furniture shop, earning
Bhide, then the most renowned cinema-hoarding painter in a modest salary. In addition to design, he was tasked with

Bombay, operating from Prabhat Studios of M. Shantaram. inscribing nursery rhymes, such as “Jack and Jill Went up the
He also ventured into independent billboard painting for Hill,” on pastel blue and pink furniture surfaces.
New Theatres’ film promotions. Husain’s creative spirit, however, could not be contained
In 1941, Husain took a significant step in his personal by the constraints of nursery furniture design. Drawing

A newspaper clipping about a painting by Husain created in collaboration with Shah Rukh Khan
Swaraj is my Birthright commemorative stamp (Issued by India Post in 1988) A picture of the artist from the 1980s

In those early years, he honed his ability to paint Trying to sustain himself in the bustling metropolis,
portraits, a skill that offered a means of survival for several Husain explored other avenues. An acquaintance from his
artists in Bombay. His early works included a watercolour hometown, Indore, worked as a cinema-hoarding painter in
portrait of Bismillah Bi, the mother of his friend Abdul Bombay, and Husain joined him as an assistant. It was during

Wahid, and another of the mother of Husain Khichdiwala, this time that Husain discovered his unique ability of being
who ran a soup kitchen serving rice and daal known as able to enlarge images from photographs to hoarding without
khichdi and kadhi. However, these modest endeavours were needing to adhere to the traditional method of gridding. This
insufficient for a young artist in pursuit of his dreams. radical approach, it would turn out, allowed him to work more

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