S.h. raza signature
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10 things to know about Sayed Haider Raza
A primer on the Indian Modernist whose richly coloured canvases fused Western avant-garde ideas with the spirituality of his homeland. Illustrated with works offered at Christie’s
The son of a forest ranger, Sayed Haider Raza was born in 1922 in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. He would go on to become one of his country’s most important 20th-century painters.
‘The most tenacious memory of my childhood is the fear and fascination of Indian forests,’ Raza said in 2001. ‘We lived near the source of the Narmada river in the centre of the dense forests of Madhya Pradesh. Nights in the forests were hallucinating; sometimes the only humanising influence was the dancing of the Gond tribes. Daybreak brought back a sentiment of security and wellbeing. On market day, under the radiant sun, the village was a fairyland of colours. And then, the night again. Even today I find that these two aspects of my life dominate me and are an integral part of my paintings.’
What is he best known for? •
S. H. Raza
Indian painter
Sayed Haider RazaLH (22 February 1922 – 23 July 2016) was an Indian painter who lived and worked in France for most of his career.[1] Born on 22 February 1922 in Kakkaiya (District Mandla), Central Provinces, British India (present-day Madhya Pradesh), Raza moved to France in 1950, marrying the French artist Janine Mongillat in 1959. Following her death from cancer in 2002, Raza returned to India in 2010, where he would live until his death on 28 July 2016.[2][3][4]
Having maintained strong ties with India throughout his career, Raza was an acclaimed for his art both there and in France.[5][6] He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1981,[7]Fellowship of the Lalit Kala Academi in 1984,[8]Padma Bhushan in 2007,[9] and Padma Vibhushan in 2013.[10] He was conferred with the Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honour) on 14 July 2015.[11]
His seminal work Saurashtra sold for ₹16.42 crore ($3,486,965) at a Christie's auction in 2010.[ •
Sayed Haider Raza's themes were drawn from his childhood memories spent in the forests of his native village of Babaria, in Madhya Pradesh. Raza's style evolved over the years - he began with expressionist landscapes, which became rigid, geometric representations of French towns and villages in the early 1950s, following his move to Paris. Later, the lines blurred and colour began to dominate; his theme was still landscape but it was now non-representational, speaking to the sentiment evoked by a place rather than its tangible aspects.
In the late 1970s, the artist's focus turned to pure geometrical forms; his images were improvisations on an essential theme: that of the mapping out of a metaphorical space in the mind. In the 1980s, the circle or "Bindu" became the central motif. Sacred in its symbolism, it placed his work in an Indian context.
The artist calls his work from the 1980s onwards a "result of two parallel enquiries." Firstly, it is aimed at a "pure plastic order" and secondly, it concerns the theme of nature. Both converge into a single point and become
S. H. Raza
Indian painter
Sayed Haider RazaLH (22 February 1922 – 23 July 2016) was an Indian painter who lived and worked in France for most of his career.[1] Born on 22 February 1922 in Kakkaiya (District Mandla), Central Provinces, British India (present-day Madhya Pradesh), Raza moved to France in 1950, marrying the French artist Janine Mongillat in 1959. Following her death from cancer in 2002, Raza returned to India in 2010, where he would live until his death on 28 July 2016.[2][3][4]
Having maintained strong ties with India throughout his career, Raza was an acclaimed for his art both there and in France.[5][6] He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1981,[7]Fellowship of the Lalit Kala Academi in 1984,[8]Padma Bhushan in 2007,[9] and Padma Vibhushan in 2013.[10] He was conferred with the Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honour) on 14 July 2015.[11]
His seminal work Saurashtra sold for ₹16.42 crore ($3,486,965) at a Christie's auction in 2010.[ Sayed Haider Raza's themes were drawn from his childhood memories spent in the forests of his native village of Babaria, in Madhya Pradesh. Raza's style evolved over the years - he began with expressionist landscapes, which became rigid, geometric representations of French towns and villages in the early 1950s, following his move to Paris. Later, the lines blurred and colour began to dominate; his theme was still landscape but it was now non-representational, speaking to the sentiment evoked by a place rather than its tangible aspects. •
In the late 1970s, the artist's focus turned to pure geometrical forms; his images were improvisations on an essential theme: that of the mapping out of a metaphorical space in the mind. In the 1980s, the circle or "Bindu" became the central motif. Sacred in its symbolism, it placed his work in an Indian context.
The artist calls his work from the 1980s onwards a "result of two parallel enquiries." Firstly, it is aimed at a "pure plastic order" and secondly, it concerns the theme of nature. Both converge into a single point and become
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