The epicentre of artistic expression

"The Bindu symbolizes the seed, bearing the potential of all life" – this single dot lies at the epicentre of the great Indian master, S. H. Raza’s work. He recently completed 85 years, and was honoured by art-lovers all over the world.
The epicentre of artistic expression

My inspiration has been the ideas of writers or painters and musicians such as an Ustad who once said, 'See with your ears, hear with your eyes’: Sayed Haider Raza. It is only genius that can invert basic actions, such as seeing with the ears and hearing with the eyes, to produce immortal works of art. Veteran artist S A Raza completed his 85th birthday in February 2007, to coincide with an exhibition of selected works at the National Gallery of Modern Art London, as well as several other retrospectives all over India.

Although he lives and works in France, Raza has maintained strong links with his homeland and is one of India’s iconic painters. A master of colours, his works reflect the vibrant hues of India, radiating an energy and warmth, which this country emanates. Raza chose to begin his work in the impressionistic style in the 1940s, moving on to abstract landscapes, which gradually evolved to “landscapes of the mind”. From nature-based paintings, his artistic vision made the creative leap to abstract forms, progressing towards the energetic use of colour as well as energy, sound, space and time. The culmination of all his work is the Bindu (or dot), which he perceives as the centre of creation and existence. This symbol holds great significance in Indian spirituality, and thus anchors Raza’s works in the Indian context.
The epicentre of artistic expression

Born in Madhya Pradesh in 1922, Raza received his early training at the Nagpur School of Art and the Sir J.J.School of Art, Bombay. He went on to form the Progressive Artists Group in 1948 along with such greats like M. F. Hussain, F. N. Souza and K.H. Ara. In those days Bombay was home to the heady world of creative expression, where this group of visionaries strived to establish modernistic art forms.

In 1950, however, Raza received a scholarship from the French government and went to Paris he study at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts. It was here that he matured as an artist of international standard, and his meteoric rise in the world of art took place. Raza was awarded the Prix de la Critique in Paris, in 1956 and from then on, there was no looking back. His works were frequently displayed at the International Biennales at Venice, Sao Paolo and Menton, the Royal Academy in London, and in the Triennale at New Delhi. In the 60s he lived in California as visiting lecturer at the art department of Berkeley University.

As the years passed by Raza’s visits to India grew more frequent and now he comes almost once a year, passing on his genius to several protégés, in the true Indian “guru-shishya parampara” (master and disciple tradition). In December 1978, his native state of Madhya Pradesh paid homage to him by holding an exhibition of his works in Bhopal. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the President of India in 1981, and was elected a Fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, in 1983. Since then he has received the Kalidas Samman from the government of Madhya Pradesh and a retrospective of his paintings has been presented at the Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal.

Raza’s work has spanned the entire range of his life experience. His early works were inspired from scenes out of the forests of his native village in Barbaria, Madhya Pradesh; and later the beautiful countryside of France. He excelled in impressionistic landscapes, and then moved on to a period of geometrical expression of forms (from the 1950s to 1970s). As his vision matured with age, his lines blurred once again to abstract compositions in bright colours. He grew more and more pre-occupied with imminent energies, involved with the plastic qualities of art and its emergence on the surface.

Raza calls his work 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 inseparable, represented by the Bindu. Having trained in France, his work displays an element of formalism, which he has uniquely combined with the mystic aspects of Hindu philosophy. His paintings are now highly sought after by collectors and museums around the world. In November 2005, Christies in New York auctioned a painting by Raza for $215,000. Raza married a fellow artist from France in the 50s, and now lives in Gorbio in southern France.