Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c11.s4.t3.68

v2.c11.s4.t3.68

States of America and other Asian countries, and participated in a series of important international art exhibitions. In 1967, the documentary ‘*Through the Eyes of a Painter*’ that he produced won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. In 1971, Sao Paulo Biennial invited him and Pablo Picasso to hold exhibitions in a special room, as he was known as the “Indian Picasso”. In 1973, the Government of India granted him the Padma Bhushan and in 1991, it awarded him the Padma Vibhushan. Then, he was elected as member of New Delhi College of Arts. Hussain’s paintings take the main subjects of myths and legends that have been handed down by Indian farmers in rural areas, and modelled as plain, witty, and optimistic image of Indian farmers. Not only did he learn from the cubism and expressionism techniques of western modern art, but he absorbed the traditional Indian elements in sculptures, murals, miniatures, and folk art, and formed a Hindu eclectic style of expressionism. However, his artistic personality is rather distinctive, especially in that his vigorous and robust thick lines have become his unique Hussain-style means of modelling and art symbols. His representative works include oil paintings *Land*, *Between a Spider and a Light*, *Horse*, *Let History Come across the Impersonalized Me* and so on.