S. H. Raza

S.H. Raza (22 February 1922 – 23 July 2016) was one of the undisputed masters of modern Indian art. Graduated from Sir J.J. School of Arts, Mumbai, in 1943, Raza became one of the founding members of the Progressive Artists Group in 1947. He received the French Government Scholarship in 1950 to study at Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Raza explored various modernist styles through his early landscape paintings, influenced by expressionism and later by geometric abstraction. At the beginning of 1970, Raza began to paint the dot or the Bindu series. The Bindu appears as a recurring motif in S.H. Raza’s artworks. Raza’s fascination towards the bindu began in his childhood when one of his mentors taught him to elevate concentration by focusing on a small black dot. In Hindu metaphysics, Bindu is considered the origin of all kinds of creations. Following his travels to Ajanta and Ellora, Raza incorporated bindu in his work.

S.H. Raza portrays bindu as a single meditative form symbolising seed, which bears the potential of all life. The form also denotes the fundamentals of line, tone, colour, texture, and space.

In 2007, Art Alive Gallery celebrated the 85th birthday of S.H. Raza in a multi-arts event named ‘Swasti’. The event comprised a solo show of the artist at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, a group exhibition of Raza Foundation Awardees, a Poetry and Performative Arts festival and a panel discussion on Raza, titled ‘Shoonya aur Aakar’ (Form and Nothingness) with distinguished art critics and writers.

Raza has several solo exhibitions to his acclaim, including ‘Paysage: Select Works 1950s-1970s’, ‘Parikrama: Around Gandhi, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2014; ‘Shabd-Bindu’, Akar Prakar, Kolkata, in 2013; ‘Vistaar’, Art Musings and Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 2012-13, ‘Bindu Vistaar’, Grosvenor Gallery, London, in 2012; ‘Punarangman’, Vadehra Art Gallery and Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, in 2011; ‘Ones’ at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2011 and 2010; Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai, 2008 and 2006; and Saffronart and Berkeley Square Gallery, London and New York, 2005.

In his long and eminent career, Raza has held several group exhibitions in India and abroad including those at Aicon Gallery, New York and London, in 2014, 13, 12, 11, 10; the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, in 2009; Grosvenor Gallery, London, Mumbai, 2004; Saffronart and Pundole Art Gallery, New York, 2001 and 2002; and Saffronart, Hong Kong and Los Angeles, 2001 among several others.

He was a recipient of Prix de la Critique, Paris, 1956; Rajkeeya Samman and Kalidas Samman by Government of Madhya Pradesh, 1978 & and 1997; Officier de LOrdre Des Arts et des Lettres by Government of France, 2002. He was conferred Padma Shri in 1981 and Padma Bhushan in 2007 by the Government of India. He was honoured with the Fellowship of the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1983.

Several publications have been released on his life and work, which include 'Bindu: Space and Time in Razas Vision' by Geeti Sen, 1997 'Raza' by Ashok Vajpeyi, 2002, as well as 'A Life in Art: Raza Written & edited by Ashok Vajpeyi' (2007), and 'Mandalas: S.H. Raza by Olivier Germain – Thomas' in 2009 published by Art Alive Gallery.

Artworks By S. H. Raza