Barefoot Husain (Looking at Art - M. F. Husain)

LOOKING AT ART leads children into the world and sensibilities of some of India's finest artists - contemporary, traditional and folk. It is an engaging introduction to art and the artist through story, memoir and biography, as well as a valuable resource for the understanding of art. Covering diverse forms of visual expression, it gives Young readers a wider and more inclusive idea of art.

BAREFOOT HUSAIN is one of a set of four books by Anjali Raghbeer featuring contemporary artists from four different parts of India Amrita Sher-GiI, Jamini Roy, Ravi Varma and Maqbool Fida Husain.

When Husain loses his shoes, Jai offers to help him find them. The two then take off on a crazy journey, zooming in and out of paintings, through milestones in M. F. Husain's life. What happens when the always barefoot Husain finally finds and wears a pair of shoes? The fun story takes off from some of the painter's famous works, including his distinctive horses, and ends with an interesting comment on his celebrated free spirit!

M. F. HUSAIN was born in 1915 in Pandharpur, Maharashtra. He learnt art on his own, and when he won an award in 1947 for his painting Sunehra Sansar, he was invited by the artist Francis Newton Souza to be a founder-member of the Progressive Artists' Group in Mumbai – a group that wanted to experiment with new styles of painting.

H has taken part in many national and international shows. In 1917, he was the only Indian artist honoured by being invited along with Pablo Picasso to the famous Bienal de Sao Paulo art show. The Indian government nominated him to the Rajya Sabha in 1986, and awarded him the Padma Vibhushan in1989.

His creativity spilled into films, which have always fascinated him. The documentary, through the Eyes of a Painter, won him the Golden Bear at the International Film Festival at Berlin In 1967. He has also made two feature films.

Anjali Raghbeer specialised in business with an MBA from the London Business School, UK. But she had always yearned to writer, so she then did a certificated course in feature film writing from the University of California, Los Angeles, USA. She now writes film script and children's books, and some of her works have been converted into plays for children. Currently, she is busy with a major UK-based film project. She lives in New Delhi with her husband and two daughters. With a great lover for art, she conducts workshops that introduce youngsters to the world of Indian art.