Sayed Haider Raza

by Ashok Vajpeyi

• A comprehensive overview of S.H. Raza's life and work • Featuring over 250 works from Raza's oeuvre • Includes previously unpublished letters and notebooks offering glimpses of the master at work • Detailed chrono-biography situates Raza within the transcultural dynamics of the art world After an early stint in Bombay in the 1940s, with the Progressive Artists’ Group, S. H. Raza moved to France, where he spent the next 60 years. This volume explores Raza’s artistic trajectory from the time of his arrival in Paris, as well as his contribution to the development of modernism in the Indian subcontinent. Raza’s strong thrust towards non-figurative art, and subsequent influences from European and American modernism, combined with his memories and impressions of India, led him to a skillful negotiation between Indian spirituality and Western abstraction. Beginning with early works developed in India before 1947, the essays in this volume analyze Raza’s later abstraction processes and landscapes. An anthology of previously unpublished letters offer glimpses of the master at work, and a detailed chrono-biography situates him within the transcultural dynamics of the 1950s to the 1980s. Accompanying the S.H. Raza exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2023, this monograph presents a compelling overview of Raza’s work and the highlights of his journey. Published in association with the Raza Foundation, New Delhi and Centre Pompidou, Paris.

296 pages, Hardcover

Published January 30, 2023

About the author

Ashok Vajpeyi (Hindi: अशोक वाजपेयी) (born 1941) is an Indian poet in Hindi, essayist, literary-cultural critic, apart from being a noted cultural and arts administrator, and a former civil servant.

He was chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi India's National Academy of Arts, Ministry of Culture, Govt of India, 2008–2011. He has published over 23 books of poetry, criticism and art, and was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award given by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, in 1994 for his poetry collection, Kahin Nahin Wahin.

His notable poetry collections include, Shaher Ab Bhi Sambhavana Hai (1966), Tatpurush (1986), Bahuri Akela (1992), Ibarat Se Giri Matrayen, Ummeed ka Doosra Naam (2004) and Vivaksha (2006), besides this he has also published works on literary and art criticism: Filhal, Kuchh Poorvagrah, Samay se Bahar, Kavita ka Galp and Sidhiyan Shuru ho Gayi Hain. He is generally seen as part of the old Delhi-centric literary-cultural establishment consisting of bureaucrat-poets and academicians like Sitakanta Mahapatra, Keki Daruwalla, J.P.Das, Gopi Chand Narang, Indra Nath Choudhari and K.Satchidanandan.

Reviews

[Céline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une très belle découverte lors de la visite VIP pour l'exposition S.H Raza au Beaubourg. L'évolution du travail de l'artiste est spectaculaire.

Étrangement je n'ai pas la même couverture du livre.

Bonsoir.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting range in quality for the catalogue essays. Plate reproductions were hit or miss, some were excellent and others were blurry. Reproduced correspondence and the contribution by Homi K. Bhabha were highlights