This post was originally published on artnews.com
On Monday, a court in India’s capital city, Delhi, ordered the seizure of two artworks by the late Maqbool Fida Husain – aka MF Husain – after they were deemed “offensive” by authorities. He is one of India’s best-known artists.
The judge gave the police permission to confiscate the drawings after a lawyer, Amita Sachdeva, complained that the artworks featuring two Hindu deities “hurt religious sentiments.” She posted on X on December 4 that she photographed the “offensive” works displayed at the Delhi Art Gallery (DAG) after looking into previous accusations levelled at Husain. Sachdeva filed a police complaint on December 9.
Husain died in 2011 at the age of 95. He was often criticized for depicting naked Hindu gods.
In response to the court order, DAG – which describes itself as “India’s leading art company” – said in a statement that “It is noteworthy that no other person among about 5,000 visitors at the gallery raised any objection to any of the artworks displayed in this exhibition.”
The gallery said the drawings in question “were acquired internationally at a Christie’s auction and brought into India following due customs clearance.”
The two artworks were exhibited by the gallery as part of a show called “Husain: The Timeless Modernist.” It included over 100 and ran from October 26 to December 14.
Sachdeva said she visited the gallery with a police officer on December 10, but the works had been removed. She claimed that the gallery said it had never shown the artworks.
The two drawings that Sachdeva posted online showed the Hindu gods Hanuman and Ganesha alongside naked women. She claimed the Delhi police failed to file a report about them.
According to media report, Sachdeva demanded that the court analyze the CCTV footage from the gallery taken when the works were allegedly hanging on the wall.
“Given its implicit belief in artistic freedom, DAG denies any wrongdoing as alleged by the complainant who has publicly claimed to be principally driven by a religious agenda,” DAG said. “In fact, the complainant has herself displayed and publicised the images of the drawings over social media and television news media deliberately intending them to be viewed by a larger audience, while contending that the same images hurt her personal religious sentiments.”
On Monday, a judge at Patiala House Courts in Delhi said officers had obtained the footage and submitted their report. According to the inquiry, “Husain: The Timeless Modernist” was held in a private space and was only intended to exhibit the artist’s original work, the judge explained.
Husain was no stranger to controversy during his lifetime. He was accused of a lack of respect by conservative Hindus for his depiction of a nude goddess. In 2006, he issued a public apology for his painting Mother India portraying a naked woman kneeling on the ground to create the shape of the Indian map. The same year, he left India on his own accord and lived in London until his death.
In 2008, India’s Supreme Court decided against launching criminal proceedings against Husain, arguing that his art was not obscene and that nudity was common in Indian iconography. The court also rejected calls for Husain, then in exile, to be summoned and asked to explain the nudity in his work.
India’s Supreme Court said in a statement: “There are so many such subjects, photographs and publications. Will you file cases against all of them? What about temple structures? Husain’s work is art. If you don’t want to see it, don’t see it. There are so many such art forms in temple structures.”