Important Notice

The colours and composition of the present lot demonstrate elements of gestural brushwork, but distinct elements of structure and geometry are also visible. The loose brushwork is circumscribed within a frame composed of solid, horizontal lines of colour. Raza employs dark, multi-hued earthy colours and divides space in a way that is reminiscent of a traditional miniature painting format.

Art critic Rudy von Leyden, wrote of Raza's... The colours and composition of the present lot demonstrate elements of gestural brushwork, but distinct elements of structure and geometry are also visible. The loose brushwork is circumscribed within a frame composed of solid, horizontal lines of colour. Raza employs dark, multi-hued earthy colours and divides space in a way that is reminiscent of a traditional miniature painting format.

Art critic Rudy von Leyden, wrote of Raza's "... perceptiveness for a final supreme and universal viewing of nature, not as appearance, not as spectacle but as an integrated force of life and cosmic growth reflected in every elementary particle and in every fibre of a human being... Nature became to Raza something not to be observed or to be imagined but something to be experienced in the very act of putting paint on canvas. Painting acts itself out as a natural force, struggling in darkness, breaking into light, shivering in cold, burning in heat, trying to find form and yet dissolving into chaos... the work of art emerges as an entity of vibrating power, metamorphosis incarnate, unchangeable and ever changing like the forces of nature reflected in the human mind." (Rudolf von Leyden, "Metamorphosis," Raza, Mumbai: Chemould Publications and Arts, 1985)

Gallerist Kekoo Gandhy took the initiative to introduce Indian artists to European collectors in the late 1970s. In 1982, Gandhy's eldest daughter organised a show of Raza's paintings at the Gallery Loeb in Bern, which was attended by several expats, including Mr. Weber, who had been posted in India between 1930 and 1946. Rudy von Leyden, who had first spotted Raza as a young artist at the Bombay Art Society in the 1950s, too attended and gave a touching speech. The present lot was acquired by Mr. Weber at this exhibition, which showcased some of Raza's finest work evoking the colours and emotions of the forests of India.

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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