#art, Indian Artist S. H. Raza

I had heard of his name but knew very little about Raza… Raza lived and worked in France for most of his life. He was born in Kakkaiya, Mandla, now Madhya Pradesh, India, in 1922. Although he lived in France from 1950 to 2010, he always maintained strong ties with his country and was well known there as well as in France… Raza received many honours for his work:

Prix de la critique (1956)

Padma Shri (1981)
Fellowship of the Lalit Kala Academy (1984)
Padma Bhushan (2007)
Padma Vibhushan (2013)
Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur (2015)

His painting Saurashtra sold for over three million US dollars at Christie’s in 2010.

Raza was a well educated artist. He started his art training at the Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai, from 1943 to 1947. Once he moved to France in 1950 he studied at the École Nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts (ENSB-A), in Paris from 1950 to1953, having won a French government scholarship. He was awarded the Prix de la critique in Paris in 1956. He was the first non-French artist to receive the honour.

His work was mostly expressionist at first but gradually went transitioning to abstract. He also incorporated elements of Tantrism from Indian scriptures. He continued to re-invent himself and his art, leaving behind the expressionist landscape and opting for more of a geometric abstraction and «Bindu». Raza believed Bindu was the centre of creation and existence which progressed towards forms, colours, energy, sound, space and time.

Reza died at the age of 94 (2016) in New Delhi and is buried next to his father’s grave in Mandla city’s kabristan.

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