Important Notice

During the 1970s, and exploratory period for S.H. Raza, the artist drew on his childhood memories of India, to create several paintings in which he meditated on the role of darkness in the gestation of colour, light and life. "It must be said that of this period, with its gestural abstractions, the dark paintings with their resonances of night and its flickering lights are compelling compositions…They evoke powerful emotions even as their color... During the 1970s, and exploratory period for S.H. Raza, the artist drew on his childhood memories of India, to create several paintings in which he meditated on the role of darkness in the gestation of colour, light and life. "It must be said that of this period, with its gestural abstractions, the dark paintings with their resonances of night and its flickering lights are compelling compositions…They evoke powerful emotions even as their color juxtapositions create a throbbing movement on the surface" (Yashodhara Dalmia, The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2001, p. 156).

In Raza's works from this period, which represent s the zenith of his engagement with primary colours and gestural abstraction, "Notably, the outlines of any cognizant forms have virtually all disappeared - you may catch here there a glimpse of a figure, the shimmer of leaves on a tree or the vague markings of human habitation. But it is the mood which prevails, or to put it in his own terms, 'a certain climate of experience'…The vibrancy of colour becomes sensuous and physical presence, applied with a boldness that defies the need for subject matter - and for all else that mattered in a painting" (Geeti Sen, Bindu: Space and Time in Raza's Vision, Media Transasia Ltd, New Delhi, 1997, p. 76).

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