Important Notice

This unusually large watercolour painted by Raza during his early years as an artist, won the Gold Medal at the Bombay Art Society's Diamond Jubilee exhibition in December 1948. Raza was awarded the Gold Medal for best work in this exhibition for this and three other watercolour landscapes. It also won a money prize for "best local landscape in water-colour." The Weber family recalls that Mr. Weber, who had encouraged Raza to paint the scene of... This unusually large watercolour painted by Raza during his early years as an artist, won the Gold Medal at the Bombay Art Society's Diamond Jubilee exhibition in December 1948. Raza was awarded the Gold Medal for best work in this exhibition for this and three other watercolour landscapes. It also won a money prize for "best local landscape in water-colour." The Weber family recalls that Mr. Weber, who had encouraged Raza to paint the scene of the Chowpatty Bay as seen from Malabar Hill, later convinced the artist to sell him the painting as it was not for sale at the exhibition.

EMIL WEBER

In the late 1930s, many European companies set up a base for trade in India, including a group of Swiss automotive companies who had their headquarters in Bombay. Among the company representatives that arrived in the city was Emil Weber, who worked with the famous Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik (Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works) manufacturing company, or SLM as they were popularly known. A global company for producing steam and electric locomotive engines, SLM built locomotives for the Indian Railways back in 1928 and the years that followed.

As most of these Swiss companies originated from the town of Winterthur near Zurich, the company men in Bombay were very well acquainted with each other. During World War I, they were advised not to travel back home and they subsequently settled down in the Bandra and Cumbala Hill neighbourhoods of Bombay, forming a "Swiss Colony." One of these representatives, Mr. Scherrer from Volkart Brothers, made acquaintance with Kekoo Gandhy, who owned Chemould Frames, a picture frame manufacturing company. Th rough his business, Gandhy had come to know the young generation of artists in Bombay then, including Raza. Gandhy, who went on to become one of India's foremost art patrons, exhibited paintings in his showroom window while promoting them to prospective clients such as Mr. Weber.

The family recalls that Mr. Weber became a patron of Raza's early works, even suggesting that the artist paint the view of the Girgaum Chowpatty Bay seen in lot 15, which won the Gold medal in the 1948 Bombay Art Society exhibition. He later went to great lengths to acquire the painting even though it was not listed for sale. Mr. Weber eventually left India in 1949 and returned to Switzerland. He remained an avid collector of Raza's paintings for decades to come, even visiting Raza in Paris in 1982, the same year in which he acquired lot 17 from an exhibition in Bern.

Lots 15, 16 and 17 are from Mr. Weber's personal collection.

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