“As a painter, I have to realise the ideas, the moods, the sentiments, in a visual language of form and colour. A painting has to be seen, and to be felt. It has to be felt through all the senses.” — S H RAZA

In this painting from 2010 S H Raza departs from the structured geometric symbolism that characterised his works from the 1980s onwards and instead revisits the expressive, gestural brushwork that marked his practice in the... “As a painter, I have to realise the ideas, the moods, the sentiments, in a visual language of form and colour. A painting has to be seen, and to be felt. It has to be felt through all the senses.” — S H RAZA

In this painting from 2010 S H Raza departs from the structured geometric symbolism that characterised his works from the 1980s onwards and instead revisits the expressive, gestural brushwork that marked his practice in the 1960s. Reflecting on this late phase of Raza’s career, writer and critic Ashok Vajpeyi notes that, “Raza paints his new works as a homage of gratitude to the world, to nature and to powers that be. He celebrates them colourfully, in joy and tranquillity; he seems to be reaching out to an enriching and deeply contemplative silence. These later?day works are also objects organically moving towards consonance, harmony and peace not only of colours but also of mind.” (Ashok Vajpeyi, “Now”, Raza: A Life in Art, New Delhi: Art Alive Gallery, 2007, p. 128)

Raza’s increased emphasis on colour and texture over formal construction can be traced to his 1962 visit to the United States, where he encountered the work of Abstract Expressionists such as Willem de Kooning, Sam Francis, Hans Hofmann, and Mark Rothko while teaching at the University of California, Berkeley. As critic Geeti Sen notes, he began instead communicating his lived experience of nature and what he described as an “inner rhythm”. Many paintings from this period carry titles that signal this deep engagement with the natural world, often invoking particular places, seasons, or times of day, as seen in the present lot, Winter Breeze.

Reflecting on this transformation, Raza wrote that he sought to go beyond technical mastery and realistic representation. “I realised that my eyes were focussed outwards, and there was an imperative need to look within myself. Thus began a transformation in my vision, and in my work. Thereafter, visual reality, the aim to construct a “tangible” world, receded. In its place there was a preoccupation with evoking the essence, the mood of places and of people. Day and night, summer and winter, joy and anguish—these elementary experiences that are felt rather than seen, became my subjects. They were expressed through emotive colours and forms which became increasingly more gestural.” (Artist quoted in Sen, p. 59)

Read More
Artist Profile
Other works of this artist in: this auction  |  entire site