 "Google honours M F Hussain with a doodle; Some express anger")
India’s Picasso M F Husain’s 100th birthday got a special Google touch when the search engine giant presented a doodle honouring the magical artist.
Hussain was displayed holding a paintbrush next to a few creatively painted circles that suggested the Google logo with a painting brush.
Hussain was India’s most celebrated and internationally acclaimed painter. His paintings are easily identifiable with that unique cubic style which he modified in his paintings. He was also the most controversial artist in the country, who later became a Qatar citizen relinquishing his Indian nationality.
Born in September 17, 1915 at Pandharpur in Maharashtra, the self-taught painter started his career by painting cinema posters in Mumbai. As far as professional training go, he learned calligraphy while he stayed at a madrasa in Baroda.
The artist and his paintings came to fame in 1940s. He was one of the founding members of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group. With solo exhibition in Zurich he became internationally acclaimed and in 1966 Indian government awarded him with Padma Shri.
He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1973 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1991.
His paintings portrayed a diverse range of subjects from M K Gandhi, Mother Teresa to Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Hussain even wrote and directed movies. His movie Through The Eyes of A Painter was screened at Berlin Film Festival and won National Film Award for Best Experimental Film and Golden Bear short film award. After this he made many other movies also. Gaja Gamini with Madhuri Dixit and Meenaxi: The Tale of Three Cities with Tabu, which was screened in Cannes Film Festival.
His paintings of Hindu gods and godesses in nude and a painting of Mother India in nude with Indian states as different parts of her body became controversial which led to a number of law suites and death threats from various religious extremists. He left India in 2006 and lived in self-imposed exile from then.
He died in 2011 in London due to heart attack at the age of 95.
Even on in his 100th birthday, while Google is celebrating with a doodle, an unwanted criticism has emerged. Angry criticisers who did not appreciate Husain’s paintings expressed their anger on Twitter.
Many are of the opinion that Google should have carried a doodle on Ganesh Chathurthi or celebrating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday.
Twitter war over doodle
Google shown his hypocrisy & hate with Hinduism to keep #MFHussain on doodle. ?? ???? ????????? ???????
— ???? ????? #VHS (@ans_pandit) September 17, 2015
@googleindia what makes u prefer tribute to #MFHussain over wishing ganesh chaturthi? MF is known for deliberately insulting #Hinduism
— Sumit Sharma (@SumitSharma_91) September 17, 2015
If #MFHussain is a sexist bcs of his nude depiction of hindu goddess then first culprits must be Khajuraho temple architectures
— devashish jarariya (@jarariya91) September 17, 2015
This Painting tells everything, How much he missed India , and we missed him . #MFHussain pic.twitter.com/OqKlGbOYIm
— Jab (@jabircvd) September 17, 2015