Sayed Haider Raza’s 35 paintings to trace Indowestern fusion from Sunday
Sunday, SH Raza: Traversing Terrains includes 35 paintings spanning five decades of the artist’s work from the 1940s to the 1990s, rare photos and artefacts. It’s also the first major retrospective of the iconic modernist since his death in 2016.
The show traces the evolution of his art practice. Early works show expressionist landscapes of the cities that Raza lived in. Later paintings are abstract. They blend his French training, western modernism and celebrate Indian iconography, ultimately leading WHAT: SH Raza: Traversing Terrains, a retrospective show of SH Raza’s works
WHEN: June 24 to October 28, 11 am to 8 pm
WHERE: Piramal Museum of Art, Peninsula Corporate Park, Lower Parel
ENTRY IS FREE
him to his most famous motif, the Bindu as the centre of creation, which he began painting in the 1980s.
“When you think of Raza, the first thing that comes to your mind is the Bindu. We want to show the physical and intellectual journey he took to arrive at it,” says Vaishnavi Ramanathan, curator and art historian at the museum.
Early works reflect his time spent in Mumbai. Born in rural Madhya Pradesh, he arrived here in 1943, after being awarded a scholarship to attend Sir JJ School of Art. Watercolour works of bustling Princess Street and Bomanji Lane in Fort reflect his first brush with cosmopolitan life. “He would paint on the spot, so his works were spontaneous,” says Ramanathan.
Another section explores Raza’s life in France from 1950s. On display are the artist’s heavy oil paintings and letters sourced from Galerie Lara Vincy, which curated his first solo show in Europe in 1958. Diary entries at the exhibition show how Raza meticulously catalogued his works. Most works are from the Piramal collection, but the archival images and other artefacts come from the Raza Foundation, the artist Krishen Khanna and Galerie Lara Vincy Archives.