At a time when the city and the state will be in the grip of elections, a five-day-long celebration of the birth centenary of the nation&’s most famous barefoot painter will begin.

A self taught artist who started his artistic career by painting film billboards to earn a living, when M F Husain came to start his fine art career there was a definite transition back to his roots, with a combination of themes such as folk, mythological and tribal. This was also reflective of what Husain considered as his hunger for independence, by exploring the mythology and faith of his roots. Husain was part of the Bombay Progressive Artist&’s Group and became widely known during the 1940s. There is a fusion of cubism and classical Indian style within Husain&’s work, making it unique; he has been known to have been referred to as ‘The Barefoot Picasso’, highlighting his significance. Husain&’s art has been the centre of political activism with his home being attacked and work vandalised. It was a point when the artist&’s freedom was in a face-off with culture police.

There will be exhibitions of MF Husain&’s graphics, of books written on him, or by him, and of posters on him at the Academy of Fine Arts between 2 pm and 8 pm from April 9 to 12; the screening of films on, or relating to, him; and seminars on him, or on subjects relevant to his life and work – till April 12 at the Academy of Fine Arts, with the last seminar on April 13 at the Government College of Art & Craft. ‘Husain 100’ will be inaugurated by eminent personalities from the world of art at the Academy of Fine Arts on April 9 at 6 pm. This will be followed at 7 pm by the screening of the film ‘Vision 20th Century. Paintings by MF Husain and an Interpretation by Dr. P. M. Bhargava’.

There will be five seminars to attract Husain admirers –  on ‘Freedom in Art Practice’ (April 10 at 2 pm) with Geeti Sen, Ashok Vajpeyi and Johny ML as the speakers, and Suneet Chopra as the moderator; on ‘A Journey from Group Movement to Individualism’ (April 10 at 5.30 pm) with Suneet Chopra, Gayatri Sinha and R. Sivakumar as the speakers, and Ashok Vajpeyi as the moderator; on ‘Reminiscences Husain’ (April 11 at 2 pm) with Naresh Kumar, Dr. P. M. Bhargava, Suneet Chopra and Geeti Sen as the speakers, and Nanak Gangopadhyay as the moderator; and on ‘Bahutwabad’ (in Bengali) on April 11 at 5.30 pm, with Anisuzzaman, Pranab Ranjan Ray, Amit Mukhopadhyay, Kali Krishna Guha and Ashok Bhowmick as the speakers, and Dr. Yusuf Siddiq as the moderator. At the Academy of Fine Arts, there will be a special audiovisual presentation by Vivan Sundaram on April 11 at 11.30 am – on Husain&’s ‘Man’ and Ramkinkar Baij&’s ‘Birth of Krishna’. This will be followed at 12.15 pm by a talk on MF Husain by Anil Relia. On April 12 at 5 pm, there will be a session of performance art on ‘Horses and Husain’, conceived by Partha Pratim Roy, with performances by Janardan Ghosh, Pradip Chatterjee, Sudipto Dawn and others.

This will be followed at 5.30 pm by the screening of the films Through the Eyes of a Painter and Gajagamini with a talk by film critic Sanjay Mukhopadhyay. On April 13 at 4 pm, at the Government College of Art & Craft, the last seminar will be held – on ‘Husainer Nana Katha’ (in Bengali), with PranabRanjan Ray, Soumik Nandy Majumdar and Anshuman Dasgupta as the speakers, and Partha Pratim Roy as the moderator. ‘Husain 100’ will be organised by Virasat Art, in association with the Government College of Art & Craft, the Society of Contemporary Artists, Reflections of Another Day (RAD), Third Eye, Spectrum Artists’ Circle and The Young Artists Painter Circle.