Shamshad Hussain - its all in the genes!

"People... are art in motion, an ever changing landscape of a cosmic drama."

 It is hardly surprising that it took Shamshad Hussain over 40 years to emerge from the shadows of his father - the celebrity artist M.F. Hussain. One of the very few who have managed to make a name in a field dominated by a father, Shamshad has defied the odds to struggle and emerge as one of the pioneers of contemporary art in India. 

Born in 1946, Shamshad spent most of his childhood in Mumbai with his father. His love affair with the brush began at the age of nine and the passion is still unspent. Shamshad studied at the College of Fine Arts in Baroda. He later went to the Royal College of Art, London and came back a totally rejuvenated man. "That trip changed my perspective about art", he says. In London, he says, he discovered a sense of form. And almost all his paintings since then have displayed a maturity seldom found these days. The world of art soon came to acknowledge it. He held his first solo show in 1968 and in 1983 he won the Lalit Kala Akademi's National award. His success has propelled him to the forefront of modern Indian art and he has held exhibitions in different parts of the world including the Biennales of Tokyo, Dhaka, Ankara and Bhopal. Today, Shamshad's works sell as soon as he can paint them. And the art world looks up in anticipation whenever he announces an exhibition. His latest body of work was titled Love In The Time of Cholera.   " Its one of my most significant series. There's despair and hope running through my canvasses....." 

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