Sayed Haider Raza was born into a liberal Muslim family in Madhya Pradesh, in 1922. While his family chose to migrate to Pakistan after the Partition, Raza decided to stay back in India, settling in Bombay (Mumbai) and later co-founding the historic Progressive Artists’ Group (along with influential artists like FN Souza and MF Husain). An accomplished painter of cityscapes and brilliant colourist by then, Raza decided to study Paul Cézanne and the artists of “the School of Paris” more closely by moving to France, following the advice of the French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Traversing Space: Here and Beyond

30 April 2022 to 30 June 2022

Bikaner House, New Delhi

Sayed Haider Raza was born into a liberal Muslim family in Madhya Pradesh, in 1922. While his family chose to migrate to Pakistan after the Partition, Raza decided to stay back in India, settling in Bombay (Mumbai) and later co-founding the historic Progressive Artists’ Group (along with influential artists like FN Souza and MF Husain). An accomplished painter of cityscapes and brilliant colourist by then, Raza decided to study Paul Cézanne and the artists of “the School of Paris” more closely by moving to France, following the advice of the French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. Bolstered by the motto “le sens plastique” (sense of plasticity) and receiving the prestigious prize Prix de la Critique (1953) – not to mention the artist’s new life partner Janine Mongillat, a French painter – Raza found the vast world of art welcoming him, facilitating his travels and exhibitions across the globe. The artist’s exposure to the colour field painting and the medium of acrylic while briefly working in the U.S., mediated by his longstanding interest in the compositional idioms of Rajput and Pahari miniature traditions, enabled Raza to arrive at a distinct visual language. The real breakthrough in his career came with the artist’s discovery of the pictorial and metaphysical motif of the bindu (the point) during a trip to his native land in the 1970s. Raza never relinquished his Indian citizenship since he repeatedly made visits to India, but the death of the artist’s wife made him leave France and settle in New Delhi in 2011. He was conferred with the highest French order of merit Commandeur de la Legion d'honneur in 2015 and India’s second-highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan in 2013. The artist passed away in New Delhi, in 2016.