The celebrated modern Indian artist, Husain who died at the age of 95 on June 9, 2011 had over the years accumulated a wealth of thoughts in a diary using the elaborate technique of calligraphy.
"The diary was found in the personal collection of Hindi author Krishna Baldev Vaid. What better occasion than this to remember the great painter," says Sanjeev Kumar Choube, manager of the Raza Foundation which held a commemorative event here late last evening that included artists Kishen Khanna and S H Raza.
Both Khanna and Raza were contemporaries of the late painter and belonged to the Progressive Artists'
Group in
Mumbai of which Husain was an early member.
The personal diary, which the painter titled "Harf va Naksh" contains poetry, unsent letters, some abstract sketches and other jottings in English, Hindi and Urdu.
"I met Husain in 1949 in Bombay. He was a man of few words and hardly spoke English. He would make me recite English poetry but would refrain from doing so himself. He never considered himself a writer and his writings much like his paintings can be interpreted in so many different ways. He leaves the meaning hanging in midair," Khanna told PTI.
Citing his 1956 painting "Between the Spider and the Lamp" Khanna says, "The work which signifies a lurking implication behind it. Husain had the knack to visualise images vividly not just in his paintings but also his writings." MORE
