The court has acquitted the prominent Indian artist MF Hussain, depicting Mother India as a nude woman

The Supreme Court of India acquitted MF Hussain (M. F. Husain), one of the most significant artists of the country. As the BBC News and the Associated Press, 92-year-old Hussein was accused of obscenity for what he depicted India as a nude goddess. This is a picture «Mother India» (Mother India /Bharatmata), in which Hussein drew a naked woman on a background map of India. The image made the Hindu radicals, who have filed against Hussein, several lawsuits.

Three judges of the Supreme Court eventually found the complaint to be unfounded, because the tradition of nudity have deep roots in Indian culture: «This is the same art as sculpture, and sculpture did not shock».

Hussein, who now lives in Dubai, said that he is pleased with the decision of the court and gives his homecoming. «At last they have understood the dignity of Indian contemporary art, - he said that. - This is a victory not only for me but for the whole movement of modern art in India».

India's religious radicals are treated to the works of Hussein the same way that Russian radicals dispense with disagreeable to them works of art: in addition to filing lawsuits against the artist, Hindus have attacked the exhibitions of his paintings and damaged some of them.

Outside of the radical religious paintings Hussein valued very highly. It is called «Indian Picasso», and in 2006 one of his works was sold for 2 million dollars. Sam Hussein comes from a family of Indian Muslims, but he had problems with the local Muslim community, in particular, because of his film Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities (2004).

Source: openspace.ru