Roobina Karode spoke to GANITA about the artworks of the legendary artist
He drew cityscapes, as conglomeration of houses in evocative colours. “It was interesting to hear him vividly recall some stories around the works. Another time, while interviewing him for an essay I was writing for the Raza Foundation, he emphatically expressed that he did not believe that his works are abstract as they were never empty of content.
The titles were an integral part of his work, as they invoked his interpretation of bindu, Ankuran or Kundalini,” said Roobina remembering the legendary artist S H Raza. She is the chief curator of Kiran Nadar Museum of art.
The museum has put an exhibition of his artwork in 2015. His artworks were also a part of Time Unfold Again, which is an exhibition of the permanent collection of KNMA.
She said, “One of my fondest memories have been while taking Raza saheb around during one of the exhibitions at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. Not knowing that we were showing a few of his rare paintings, he was pleasantly surprised seeing his early works when he drew cityscapes, as conglomeration of houses in evocative colours.”
KNMA has acquired most certainly the best works of Raza, belonging to different phases of his artistic life. Some of the jewel-like early works are in small format while Saurashtra, Bhoomi and several others are large canvases saturated with layers of bright colours.
“An exhibition on his works was not our immediate plan but yes, we realise that his art practice needs to be contextualized and be seen in its breadth,” she said. His was a long and fulfilling artistic career spanning over seventy decades.
Though the Progressive Artists’ Group was founded around the time of India’s Independence of which Raza was one of the founding members along with MF Husain, FN Souza and others, each one of them followed their heart and individual seeking and arrived at their own pictorial language.
“Though he had settled down in Paris, his abstractions on nature and the cosmos drew their inspiration from home grown philosophies, arriving at the painted image/form through metaphysical leanings or mystical knowledge,” she told. Raza has left an enormous legacy behind and his signature works will keep evolving.