Mumbai: M. F. Husain's 80-year-old lotus furniture will be on display

Late painter Maqbool Fida Husain, who used to live in Mumbai but later shifted to Qatar due to the Hinduism issue in the last of his years, had made all the furniture like cupboards, chairs, tables, couches in the shape of a lotus 80 years ago during his early stages of career, will be exhibited at Mumbai's first commercial art-trade fair ‘Art Mumbai' from November 16.

Husain's lotuses are in the collection of Dinesh and Meenal Vazirani, the promoters of 'Art Mumbai' and the founders of 'SaffronArt.com'. At least six of the more than 45 art galleries participating in this art trade fair will have Husain's artworks in their 'booths'. 

While the first two days of Art Mumbai will be reserved for invitees only, on Saturday and Sunday (Nov 18 and 19) the fair will be open at the price of INR 1,500 (with a slight discount for students) at the Mahalakshmi Racecourse's 'Members Enclave'.

In those two days, the attendees can also listen to seminars on Mumbai's art scene, South Asian art, etc. These types of commercial art-trade fairs originated in Basel, Switzerland, and are held in most major cities around the world. 

But often in art and trade fairs, galleries also display works by senior or late painters in their collections to make them appear 'bigger than they are'. So the works of Amrita Shergill, Reba Hore, Sunayani Devi, Meera Mukherjee will be seen here at the booth of a gallery in Mumbai, the works of Bhupen Khakkar, Vivan Sundaram, Jogen Chaudhary etc. will be seen at more than one booth.

However, the good side is that young visual artists such as Tushar and Mayur Wayeda, Rajshree Gudi, Sohrab Hooda, whose commercial value is difficult to determine, are also included in 'Art Mumbai' this year. Husain worked for a furniture company from 1941 to 1943 designing children's furniture, including a complete set of furniture with the lotus as the central idea will be displayed in Art Mumbai, and The Fantasy Collection, which included Husain's other designs of the period. This illustrated book will also be published here.