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PROPERTY FROM AN EMINENT PRIVATE COLLECTION, NEW DELHI
26
S H RAZA
(1922 ‒ 2016)
Rajasthan IV
Signed and dated 'RAZA '61' (lower left); signed, dated and
inscribed 'RAZA/ P. 369 '61/ "RAJASTHAN" IV' (on the reverse)
1961
Oil on board
44.25 x 42.5 in (112.4 x 108.2 cm)
Rs 1,50,00,000 ‒ 2,00,00,000
$ 238,100 ‒ 317,465
During the 1960s, Raza grew restless in France and
began visiting India frequently, rediscovering childhood
memories of the forests of Madhya Pradesh. He also
travelled to other parts of India, but it was Rajasthan
which inspired some of his most moving works. The
colours of his homeland erupted on his canvas in joyous,
gestural strokes as seen in the present lot. Paintings from
this period, often named for the places they were inspired
by, are non‒figural abstractions where “...the outlines
of any cognizant forms have virtually disappeared –
you may catch here and there a glimpse of a figure, the
shimmer of leaves on a tree or the vague markings of
human habitation. But it is the mood which prevails, or
to put it in his own terms, ‘a certain climate of experience’.
It is the brushstroke which assumes importance, to
create this mood... Rajasthan becomes a metaphor for
the colours of India: of vibrant greens and vermilion and
ochres, as also blacks. Rajasthan is the mapping out of
a metaphorical space in the mind... The image becomes
thus enshrined as an icon, as sacred geography.” (Geeti
Sen,
Bindu: Space and Time in Raza’s Vision
, New Delhi:
Media Transasia Ltd., 1997, pp. 76, 98)
Raza was on a journey which would gradually lead him
towards geometry and spirituality. The present lot is part
of an important earlier phase inwhichhe looked tonature
for emotional content. Here, he “...could be seen to be
depicting seasons at one level and, at another, exploring
the emotive meaning, the unsuspected sensuousness
nature invariably evokes. They are emotional essays in
colour.” (Ashok Vajpeyi ed.,
A Life in Art: S H Raza
, New
Delhi: Art Alive Gallery, 2007, p. 78)
PUBLISHED:
Anne Macklin,
S H Raza: Catalogue
Raisonné, 1958 ‒ 1971 (Volume I)
, New
Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2016, p. 71
(illustrated)
Background: Reverse of the painting