Top Indian artist offered sanctuary in Qatar Renowned Indian artist MF Husain, under attack from hardline Hindus for his paintings of nude Hindu goddesses, has been offered Qatari nationality.
The artist made the announcement in The Hindu newspaper. It is not clear whether he will accept the honour.
Since 2006, 95-year-old Mr Husain has been living in Dubai and in London.
The Hindu said that his "impending change of nationality brings to a close one of the sorriest chapters in independent India's secular history".
Correspondents say that Mr Husain - who has been forced to flee the country - is one of India's most pre-eminent artists.
In 2006 he apologised for a painting in which he represented the country as a nude goddess. In the mid-1990s there were huge protests in Mumbai (Bombay) after he painted a whole series of nude Hindu goddesses.
Hindu nationalist groups accused the artist of hurting their religious sentiments and defiling their religion.
Mr Husain estimates that there are 900 cases against him in various courts of India. He says that he has been harassed by mobs in the country and his exhibitions have been vandalised.
The Hindu says that the artist did not apply for Qatari nationality - it was conferred upon him by the emirate's ruling family.
"The artist gave me this news from Dubai by reading out the few lines he had written on a black-and-white line drawing that he released to The Hindu," editor N Ram wrote in a signed article in newspaper.
"I, the Indian origin painter MF Husain at 95, have been honoured by Qatar nationality," the artist wrote above a sketch of a horse, the leitmotif of much of his work.
Mr Husain went to live abroad in 2006 to escape the various obscenity charges he faced in India.
Top Indian artist offered sanctuary in Qatar
MF Husain
Mr Husain is one of India's best known artists
Renowned Indian artist MF Husain, under attack from hardline Hindus for his paintings of nude Hindu goddesses, has been offered Qatari nationality.
The artist made the announcement in The Hindu newspaper. It is not clear whether he will accept the honour.
Since 2006, 95-year-old Mr Husain has been living in Dubai and in London.
The Hindu said that his "impending change of nationality brings to a close one of the sorriest chapters in independent India's secular history".
Correspondents say that Mr Husain - who has been forced to flee the country - is one of India's most pre-eminent artists.
In 2006 he apologised for a painting in which he represented the country as a nude goddess. In the mid-1990s there were huge protests in Mumbai (Bombay) after he painted a whole series of nude Hindu goddesses.
Hindu nationalist groups accused the artist of hurting their religious sentiments and defiling their religion.
Mr Husain estimates that there are 900 cases against him in various courts of India. He says that he has been harassed by mobs in the country and his exhibitions have been vandalised.
The Hindu says that the artist did not apply for Qatari nationality - it was conferred upon him by the emirate's ruling family.
"The artist gave me this news from Dubai by reading out the few lines he had written on a black-and-white line drawing that he released to The Hindu," editor N Ram wrote in a signed article in newspaper.
"I, the Indian origin painter MF Husain at 95, have been honoured by Qatar nationality," the artist wrote above a sketch of a horse, the leitmotif of much of his work.
Mr Husain went to live abroad in 2006 to escape the various obscenity charges he faced in India.
Raphael’s $47.6 Million Muse Export Banned by U.K. Government
By Scott Reyburn
Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. government has placed a temporary export bar on the Raphael drawing that fetched a record 29.2 million pounds ($47.6 million) at an auction in London in December, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said in an e-mailed statement today.
Culture Minister Margaret Hodge followed the advice of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, run by the U.K.’s Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), the release said.
“The Committee recommended the export decision be deferred on the grounds that the drawing is of outstanding significance for the study of Raphael’s work,” said the statement.
The Committee awarded the drawing a starred rating, signifying that “every possible effort” should be made to raise the funds to keep the work in the U.K., said the statement.
The black-chalk study for the head of a muse in Raphael’s 1510-11 Vatican fresco “Parnassus” was sold at Christie’s International on Dec. 8. The drawing had been entered by the heirs of the British collector Norman Colville, with a low estimate of 12 million pounds. It was bought on the telephone, dealers said, by the U.S.-based collector Leon Black, chief executive of Apollo Global Management LLC and a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The price was an auction record for any work of art on paper.
The decision on the export license will be deferred until May 25. This period may be extended until Nov. 25 if a U.K.- based purchaser expresses a serious intention to match the recommended price of 29.2 million pounds, the department’s release said.
(Scott Reyburn writes about the art market for Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the writer on the story: Scott Reyburn in London at sreyburn@hotmail.com.
