Artists' brush with controversy

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New Delhi: The clampdown on Tits, Clits and Elephant Dicks is not the first time that artists have come under fire in India.

There are many instances in which moral protests against art have created controversies. Artists, of all forms whether they are painters or filmmakers or dramatists for that matter, have always come up against the guardians of morality. And the debate rages on.

In 1949, the Mumbai police had pulled down renowned artist F N Souza's so-called 'obscene' paintings from the Art Society of India exhibition. Souza had founded the Progressive Artists' Group with S H Raza, M F Husain and others in 1948.

In 1954, artist Akbar Padamsee was accused of obscenity for two paintings -- called Lovers -- and a case was filed against him. Padamsee later won this landmark case.

In October, 1996, a group of Bajrang Dal activists forced their way into the Herwitz Gallery in Ahmedabad and destroyed about 23 tapestry items and 28 paintings, which included M F Husain's series on Hanuman, a depiction of the Last Supper and the famous Madhuri Dixit series.

In the same year, M F Husain was in the dock for his alleged portrayal of a nude Saraswati.

In May 1998, The Bajrang Dal ransacked Husain's Mumbai apartment over his painting, Sita. More recently in Feburary 2006, a local court issued summons to Husain for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of people with his nude portrayal of Bharat Mata. The painting had to be withdrawn from the art gallery in Mumbai.

In 2005, artist Chintan Upadhyay sparked off a controversy by dressing down for an installation show -- titled Baar, Baar Kitne Baar? Har Baar at Vadodara.

Protesting against the 2002 Gujarat riots, the 32-year-old artist sat nude in the lotus position while viewers smeared saffron on him.