Sayed Haider Raza (22 February 1922 – 23 July 2016) was an Indian painter who lived and worked in France from 1950 until his death, while maintaining strong ties with India. He was born in Kakkaiya (District Mandla), Central Provinces, British India, which is now present-day Madhya Pradesh. He was a renowned Indian artist. He was awarded the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

in 1981,Lalit Kala Ratna Profiles
Official list of Awardees at lalitkala.gov.in. Fellowship of the Lalit Kala Academi in 1984,

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

in 2007, and

Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan ("Lotus Decoration") is the second-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service" ...

in 2013. He was conferred with the ''Commandeur de la Legion d'honneur'' (

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

) on 14 July 2015. His seminal work ''Saurashtra'' sold for 16.42 crore ($3,486,965) at a

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

auction in 2010. In 1959 he married the French artist Janine Mongillat, who died of cancer in 2002. In 2010 he decided to return to India.

Early life and education

Sayed Haider Raza was born in Kakkaiya, near the town of Bichhiya,

Mandla district Mandla District is a district of Madhya Pradesh in central India. The town of Mandla is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is part of Jabalpur Division. The district has an area of 8771 km², and a population of 779,414. It ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

, to Sayed Mohammed Razi, the Deputy Forest Ranger of the district and Tahira Begum.Artist Bio
Raza Retrospective 2007, New York. It was here where he spent his early years, completed primary education, and took to drawing at the age of 12. He moved to

Damoh Damoh is a city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The city is also the district headquarters of Damoh district. History Early history Stone Age tools have been found in Singrampur Valley and it is believed that the area has been inhabit ...

(also in Madhya Pradesh) at 13; where he completed his high school education from Government High School, Damoh.Artist Summary
Sayed Haider Raza at artfact.com. After high school, he studied further at the Nagpur School of Art,

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

(1939–43), followed by

Sir J. J. School of Art The Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy School of Art (Sir J. J. School of Art) is the oldest art institution in Mumbai, India, and is affiliated with the University of Mumbai. The school grants bachelor's degrees in fine art and sculpture, and Master's de ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

(1943–47), before moving to France in October 1950 to study at the

École Nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

(ENSB-A),

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

(1950-1953) on a Government of France scholarship. After his studies, he traveled across Europe, and continued to live and exhibit his work in Paris. He was later awarded the

Prix de la critique The Prix de la critique is a prize awarded by the Association des Critiques et des journalistes de Bande Dessinée to the best comic album released for a year in France. Previously, from 1984 to 2003, it was called ''Prix Bloody Mary'' and awarded ...

in Paris in 1956, becoming the first non-French artist to receive the honor.S. H. Raza at vadehraart.com.

Art career

Early career

Sayed Haider Raza, had his first solo show when he was 24 in 1946 at

Bombay Art Society The Bombay Art Society is a non-profit art organization based in Mumbai. The institution was founded in 1888 for encouraging and promoting art. Most of the renowned artists on India's art scene have been associated with the Bombay Art Society in s ...

Salon, and was awarded the Silver Medal of the society. His work evolved from painting expressionistic landscapes to abstract ones. From his fluent water colours of landscapes and townscapes executed in the early 1940s, he moved toward a more expressive language, painting landscapes of the mind. Raza carefully crafted his career to become an inspiration to two generations of artists. The year of 1947 proved to be a very important year for him. First, his mother died. Then, he co-founded the revolutionary

Bombay Progressive Artists' Group The Progressive Artists' Group (PAG), was a group of modern artists, mainly based in Bombay, from its formation in 1947. Though it lacked any particular style, there might be said to have been a move towards a synthesis of influences from Indian ...

(PAG) (1947–1956) along with

K. H. Ara Krishnaji Howlaji Ara (16 April 1914 – 30 June 1985) was an Indian painter and is seen as the first contemporary Indian painter to meticulously use the female nude as a subject. He was a part of the Progressive Artists' Group in Bombay and wa ...

and

F. N. Souza Francis Newton Souza (12 April 1924 – 28 March 2002) was an Indian-American British Asian artist. He was a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group of Bombay. Souza's style exhibited both decadence and primitivism. Early life and e ...

. This group set out to break free from the influences of European realism in Indian art and bring Indian inner vision (Antar gyan) into the art,. The group had its first show in 1948. A revolutionary amount of art was created by the people in this group from 1940 to 1990. Raza's father died the same year his mother had died in Mandla. The majority of his four brothers and sister, migrated to Pakistan, after the partition of India. In the early years, the group continued its close rapport.

Krishen Khanna Krishen Khanna (born 5 July 1925) is an Indian artist. He attended Imperial Service College in England and is a self-taught artist. He is recipient of the Rockefeller Fellowship in 1962, the Padma Shri in 1990, and the Padma Bhushan in 2011. Ea ...

speaks of the first exhibition Raza, Akbar Padamsee and F. N. Souza mounted together at the Gallery Cruz in Paris. "Souza and Padamsee painted in a quasi-modern fashion. Raza, however, made a throwback to the Mughal period, creating jewel-like water colours, with the pigment rubbed in with a shell. He was vastly successful and acquired by important collectors." Once in France, he continued to experiment with currents of Western Modernism, moving from Expressionist modes towards greater abstraction and eventually incorporating elements of

Tantrism Tantra (; sa, तन्त्र, lit=loom, weave, warp) are the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed on the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. The term ''tantra'', in the Indian ...

from Indian scriptures.Indian Heroes
S. H. Raza at iloveindia.com. Whereas his fellow contemporaries dealt with more figural subjects, Raza chose to focus on landscapes in the 1940s and 50s, inspired in part by a move to France. In 1956, he was awarded the prestigious Prix de la Critique, this was a monumental award to the art scene in India. In 1962, he became a visiting lecturer at the University of California in Berkeley, USA. Raza was initially enamored of the bucolic countryside of rural France. ''Eglise'' is part of a series which captures the rolling terrain and quaint village architecture of this region. Showing a tumultuous church engulfed by an inky blue night sky, Raza uses gestural brushstrokes and a heavily impasto-ed application of paint, stylistic devices which hint at his later 1970s abstractions.

The "Bindu" and beyond

By the 1970s Raza had grown increasingly unhappy and restless with his own work and wanted to find a new direction and deeper authenticity in his work, and move away from what he called the 'plastic art'. His trips to India, especially to caves of Ajanta -

Ellora Ellora is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India. It is one of the largest rock-cut Hindu temple cave complexes in the world, with artwork dating from the period 600–1000 CE., Quote: "These 34 m ...

, followed by those to Varanasi, Gujarat and Rajasthan, made him realize his role and study Indian culture more closely, the result was "Bindu",Retrospective 2007
A Conversation with Raza at saffronart.com. which signified his rebirth as a painter. The Bindu came forth in 1980, and took his work deeper and brought in, his new-found Indian vision and Indian ethnography. One of the reasons he attributes to the origin of the "Bindu", have been his elementary school teacher, who on finding him lacking adequate concentration, drew a dot on the blackboard and asked him to concentrate on it. The "Bindu" is related to Indian philosophy of being the point of all creation. The reason this interested Raza so much is because he was looking for new inspiration for his art and this created a new point of creation for himself. After the introduction of "BUNDU" (a point or the source of energy), he added newer dimensions to his thematic oeuvre in the following decades, with the inclusion of themes around the ''Tribhuj'' (Triangle), which bolstered Indian concepts of space and time, as well as that of " prakriti-

purusha ''Purusha'' (' or ) is a complex concept whose meaning evolved in Vedic and Upanishadic times. Depending on source and historical timeline, it means the cosmic being or self, awareness, and universal principle.Karl Potter, Presuppositions of Indi ...

" (the cosmic substance and the energy or the spirit respectively), his transformation from an expressionist to a master of abstraction and profundity, was complete.Art & Culture
indiaenews.com, 20 February 2008. His multiple works of art with the bindu is what truly tied him to his Indian roots and culture. This art created a sense of pride for his culture. The bindu is now widely regarded as a trademark for Raza and he said in 2010 that "It's the centre of my life". Raza abandoned the expressionistic landscape for a geometric abstraction and the "Bindu". Raza perceived the Bindu as the center of creation and existence progressing towards forms and color as well as energy, sound, space and time. His work took another leap in 2000, when he began to express his increasingly deepened insights and thoughts on Indian spiritual, and created works around the

Kundalini In Hinduism, Kundalini ( sa, कुण्डलिनी, translit=kuṇḍalinī, translit-std=IAST, lit=coiled snake, ) is a form of divine feminine energy (or ''Shakti'') believed to be located at the base of the spine, in the ''muladhara'' ...

, Nagas, and the

Mahabharat The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...

Public contributions

For the promotion of art among Indian youth, he established the Raza Foundation in India which gives the Annual Raza Foundation Award to young artists in India. The Raza Foundation in France, based in the artist village of Gorbio, runs the Estate of Sayed Haider Raza.

Later years and death

In 2011, a few years after the death of his wife, S.H. Raza decided to move back from France to New Delhi, where he continued to work several hours a day up until his death on 22 July 2016, at the age of 94, in New Delhi. His last wish being laid to rest in his hometown Mandla beside his father's grave was fulfilled. He was buried in Mandla city's kabristan.

Awards

* 1946: Silver Medal,

, Mumbai * 1948: Gold Medal,

, Mumbai * 1956:

, Paris * 1981:

; the Government of India * 1984: Fellowship of the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi * 1992–1993:

Kalidas Samman The Kalidas Samman ( hi, कालिदास सम्मान) is an arts award presented annually by the Government of Madhya Pradesh in India. The award is named after Kālidāsa, a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer of ancient India. The ...

, Government of

* 2004: Lalit Kala Ratna Puraskar, Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi * 2007:

; the Government of India * 2013:

; the Government of India * 2013: one of the greatest living global Indian legends ... NDTV INDIA * 2014: D. Litt (Honoris Causa), Indira Kala Sangit Vishwavidyalaya, Khairagarh, Chhattisgarh * 2015: Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur (the Legion of Honour); Republic of France * 2015: D. Litt (Honoris Causa), Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh

Solo exhibitions

* 2016; Nirantar, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata * 2015: Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris, "Raza: Paintings" * 2015: Akar Prakar, Kolkata, "Aarambh – Raza at 93" * 2015: Art Musings, Mumbai, "Aarambh @ 93: Solo Show of SH Raza" * 2014: Grosvenor Vadehra, London, "SH Raza – Pyaas" * 2014: Sovereign FZE, Dubai, "Raza: Paysage, Select Works 1950s – 1970s" * 2014: Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, "SH Raza - Parikrama – Around Gandhi" * 2013: Akar Prakar, Kolkata, "Shabd- bindu – A show of recent works by SH Raza & poetry by Ashok Vajpeyi" * 2013: Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, "Antardhwani" * 2012: ICIA, The Art Trust, Mumbai, "SH Raza – Solo Show" * 2012: Art Musings, Mumbai, "SH Raza: Vistaar" * 2012: Grosvenor Gallery, London, "Bindu Vistaar" * 2011: Vadehra Art Gallery & Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, "SH Raza, Punaraagman" * 2010: Flora Jansem Gallery, Raza Ceramiques, Paris * 2010: Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris, "Sayed Haider Raza, Œuvres 1950-2001" * 2010: Akar Prakar Art Gallery, Kolkata, Ahmadabad, Jaipur, Delhi, INDIA in 2010 * 2010: Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, "Recent Works – SH Raza" * 2008: Art Alive Art Gallery, Delhi, India in 2008 * Exhibition Magnificent Seven at Art Alive Gallery * 2007: Ayran Art Gallery, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hong Kong, "SH Raza - Celebrating 85 Years of living Legend" * 2007: RL Fine ARTS, New York, "SH Raza: Master of Colors – Selected Works" * 2007: The Arts Trust at the ICIA, Mumbai, "SH Raza- Solo Show" * 2007: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, "Swati – S.H. Raza" * 2006: TAO Art Gallery, Mumbai, "Rang Ras – S.H. Raza" * 2006: RL Fine Arts, New York, SH Raza: Selected Works * 2006: Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, "Raza" * 2006: Hong Kong, Aryan Art Gallery, "Raza: Metamorphosis" * 2005: Aryan Art Gallery, New Delhi, "Raza – Recent Works" * 2005: Saffronart & Berkeley Square Gallery, London & New York, "SH Raza: Summer 2005" * 2004: Art Musings, Mumbai, "SH Raza" * 2003: Berlin, The Fine Art Resource, "SH Raza: Paintings from 1996 to 2003" * 2001: Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi, "Mindscapes: The Sacred Search: a select collection of works from 1951- 2002 by Raza" * 1999: Gallery 54, New York, "Raza" * 1997: Roopankar Museum of Fine Arts,

Bharat Bhavan Bharat Bhavan is an autonomous multi-arts complex and museum in Bhopal, India, established and funded by the Government of Madhya Pradesh.The architect of the Bharat Bhavan is Charles Correa. Opened in 1982, facing the Upper Lake, Bhopal, it hous ...

, Bhopal * 1997: Jehangir Art Gallery Mumbai * 1997: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. * 1997: Vadhera Art Gallery & Chemould Gallery, Bhopal, Mumbai & New Delhi, "Raza: Avartan 1991-1996" * 1994: The Art Rental Corporate, Group Michael Ferrier, Échirolles, Grenoble * 1992: Jehangir Nicholson Museum, National Centre for Performing Arts, Mumbai * 1992: Courses Arts Lalouvesc, France * 1991: Gallery Eterso, Cannes, "Bindu ou la quête de l'essentiel", 28 June – 17 August * 1991: Palais de Carnolès, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Menton, "Raza: Rétrospective 1952-1991" * 1991: Chemould Gallery, Bombay, "Raza Anthology 1980-1990" * 1988: Chemould Gallery, Bombay; Koloritten Galleri, Stavanger, Norway * 1987: The Head of the artist, Grenoble * 1985: Galerie Pierre Parat, Paris * 1984: Chemould Gallery, Bombay * 1982: Gallery Loeb, Bern, Switzerland; Gallery JY Noblet, Grenoble * 1980: Galleriet, Oslo * 1976: Mumbai, Gallery Chemould at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Raza, 26 February – 1 March 1976. * 1975: Sanremo, Galleria Matuzia, Raza, 4 – 31 October 1975. * 1969: Paris, Galerie Lara Vincy, Raza: Peintures Recentes, 27 November 1969 – 5 January 1970. * 1968: Bombay, Gallery Chemould, Raza, 15 – 27 April 1968. * 1968: Toronto, Gallery Dresdnere, Raza – Recent Oil Paintings, 25 October – 9 November 1968. * 1968: Cologne, Dom Galerie, Sayed Haider Raza, 26 March – 4 May 1968. * 1967: Paris, Galerie Lara Vincy, 1967. * 1966: Düsseldorf, Tecta Galerie, Raza – Paris: 25 Oil Paintings from 1962- 1966, 6 October – 10 November 1966. * 1963 Cologne, Dom Galerie, Raza, June – July 1963. * 1964: Paris, Galerie Lara Vincy, Raza: Peintures récentes, 18 November 1964 – 10 January 1965. * 1962: Galerie Dresdnere, Montreal * 1962: Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris, Raza, 15 July 1962. * 1961: Paris, Galerie Lara Vincy, Raza, 19 April- 18 May 1961. * 1960: Montreal, Galerie Dresdnere, Autumn 1960. * 1959: Montreal, Galerie Dresdnere, Raza: Peintures et Gouaches, 5th – 19th MAY 1959. * 1958: Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris, "Raza - Prix de la Critique 1956. Peintures et gouaches" (April–May) * 1956: Galerie Saint-Placide, Paris, "Raza" * 1950: Charles Petrat's Institute of foreign Languages, Mumbai (September) * 1950: The IFL International Centre, Bombay, "SH Raza: Farewell Exhibition of Paintings" (September) * 1948: Exhibition Hall, New Delhi, "Raza: 100 paintings of Kashmir", organised by Rudolf Von Leyden, (September) * 1947: Bombay Art Society, "Raza's Watercolour Landscapes", (November) * 1946: First solo exhibition at the Bombay Art Society Salon

Selected Biennales

* 1956: Venice Biennale, Italy. * 1957: Biennale 57,

Pavillon de Marsan The Pavillon de Marsan or Marsan Pavilion was built in the 1660s as the northern end of the Tuileries Palace in Paris, and reconstructed in the 1870s after the Tuileries burned down at the end of the Paris Commune. Following the completion of th ...

, Paris, France. * 1958: Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil. * 1958: Biennale, Brussels, Belgium. * 1958: Biennale of Young Contemporary Painters, Bruges, Belgium. * 1958: Venice Biennale, Italy. * 1961: Biennale of Tokyo, Japan. * 1962: Salon Comparaisons, Paris, France. * 1963: Biennale du Maroc, Rabat, Morocco. * 1964: Biennale de Menton, France. * 1966: Biennale de Menton, France. * 1966: Salon Comparaisons, Paris. * 1968: Biennale de Menton, France. * 1972: Biennale de Menton, France. * 1976: Biennale de Menton, France. * 1978: Biennale de Menton, France. * 1986: Bienal de la Habana, Havana, Cuba

References

External links

The Raza FoundationDocumentary
produced by

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...

Interview
with

Sansad TV ''Sansad'' or ''Sangsad'' is the word for "Assembly", association, council or "Parliament" in several Indo-Aryan languages, derived from a Sanskrit root. It may also mean: National parliament Bangladesh * Jatiya Sangsad ("National Parliament" of ...

(in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Raza, S.H. 1922 births 2016 deaths Indian male painters Indian Muslims Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art alumni Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts Fellows of the Lalit Kala Akademi People from Mandla People from Damoh École des Beaux-Arts alumni Indian expatriates in France Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in arts 20th-century Indian painters 21st-century Indian painters Indian watercolourists Indian Expressionist painters Painters from Madhya Pradesh 20th-century Indian male artists 21st-century Indian male artists