Art world pays rich tribute to icon SH Raza

The world of art lost one of its tallest icons in painter SH Raza, who breathed his last around 11 am on Saturday following prolonged illness.

"Raza had been hospitalised for over two months in a Delhi ICU. His mortal remains are being taken to his birthplace Babaria in Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh in accordance with his wishes," erstwhile chairperson of the Lalit Kala Akademi and poet Ashok Vajpeyi said, lamenting the loss of the nonagenarian painter. "The passing away of one of the greatest art legends of the 20th century is a big blow," he said.

The co-founder of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group with F N Souza, K H Ara, M F Husain, H A Gade, S K Bakre and others was born (1922) to a forest ranger, Sayed Mohammed Razi, and Tahira Begum. He first began drawing at age 12. His love for art was further encouraged at Damoh's Government High School, following which he pursued his passion at the Nagpur School of Art from where he passed out in 1943.

Later, his completion of the course at Mumbai's J J School of Art coincided with the Indian Independence.
A meeting with iconic French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson in Kashmir a year later changed Raza's outlook on art completely.

Instead of crucifixes, he began to look at the symbolism of age-old Indian geometrical motifs linked to the spiritual quest. "His fascination for the bindu, themes of prakriti and purush, kundalini and the tribhuj then became part of his signature style," remembers senior JJ School of Art faculty John Douglas, who called Raza's passing away the end of an era.

"He will always remain an alumnus we'll talk about with pride." Many will recall how his seminal 'Saurashtra' sold at a Christie's auction for a whopping Rs 16.42 crore in 2010. Four years later, he would better his own record with 'La Terre' which sold for Rs 18.61 crore.

Saurashtra, by S H Raza

Neville Tuli, who heads the Osian's Connoisseurs of Art, lamented how the last decade has seen the passing of India's post-Independence modernist art movement. "Raza, like Souza and Bakre, represented the best of India while living out of India, always revealing the universality of creativity. Despite coloured by specific localities, the heartlands of Madhya Pradesh always was at the core of Raza's art as did Goa for Souza and India for Husain."

Many like author-columnist Shobhaa De remembered how Raza dominated the contemporary art scene in India. "He taught us how to look and look again at a point the bindu. He made us rethink the power of shunya. He was the most cerebral and meditative artists of our times."
Gallery Director of Art Musings Sangeeta Raghavan echoed this sentiment: "Raza's demise will leave a deep void in the art world and in our hearts. Razaji was a mentor to the gallery, guiding us with his vision and wisdom, shaping and deepening our understanding of art, and more importantly, of life. He led his life by example. The result of his journey within, to seek his own truth, found resonance in the concepts of his art."

She recounted how the two decade-old association with the painter had enriched her life profoundly. "Spending time in his Paris studio browsing through his trove of treasures, books and thoughts, enjoying his hospitality in Gorbio where he spent his summers, and on his return to his beloved India, getting to work closely with him on several exhibitions and publications, we can only feel truly blessed. His presence will be missed deeply, but he will live on in our hearts."

An overwhelmed Manjusha Ganguly, who has a doctorate on the glimpses of ancient, medieval and modern Indian art in Raza's work was choked with emotion when speaking to dna. The senior painter from MP recounted meeting Raza first in 1978 as a faculty of the MP Kala Parishad, when the state government had organised an exhibition of his works in Bhopal. "As I saw him sitting with all his paintings strewn on the floor, working with carpenters, I couldn't resist sitting down to help him. Though what I did hardly amounted anything he'd always remind me of it. In 2011, when I last met him in Delhi, too, he did the same," remembered this Raza awardee, who feels proud at having been bestowed the honour with his hands.