S.H. Raza Indian, 1922-2016
Biography
Born in Madhya Pradesh in 1922, SH Raza attended the Nagpur School of Art, Nagpur, (1939–43) then went on to pursue a degree at the Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai. He spent much of his time in the 1950s at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His love for Paris and modernism blossomed and remained a life-long affair, while still maintaining a strong bond with India.
His first solo exhibition earned him not only the entrance to the art world but also a silver medal from Bombay Art Society which hosted and housed the show in 1946, Mumbai. In 1947, he co-founded the renowned Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group with F.N. Souza which successfully stormed the art world till 1956. Raza has had an astonishing creative career, including a number of well known solo exhibitions such as SH Raza – Parikrama - Around Gandhi, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (2014); SH Raza - Pyaas, Grosvenor Vadehra, London (2014); Aarambh - Raza at 93, Akar Prakar, Kolkata (2015); Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris (2015); and Nirantar, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata (2016), to mention his more recent shows.
Raza was awarded the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan in 2007 and 2013 respectively. He was awarded the Lalit Kala Ratna Puraskar in 2004 by the Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi. He was also awarded the Legion of Honour by the Republic of France in 2015.
The artist passed away in 2016.
Works
Exhibitions
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S.H. Raza | Sketching Silence
D-40 Defence Colony, New Delhi 16 October - 9 November 2021The 89 drawings on view can compete with Raza’s paintings for attention precisely because they are disconcertingly apposite to anything that one may expect. They impress with the potency that...Read more -
S.H. Raza & Krishen Khanna | Yugma II
D-40 Defence Colony, New Delhi 23 February - 22 March 2019Read more -
S.H. Raza | Nirantar
D-40 Defence Colony, New Delhi 15 January - 24 February 2016A solo show of paintings by veteran artist SH Raza includes some of the latest works by the artist that highlight his continuous engagement and experimentation with the formal elements...Read more -
S.H. Raza | Aarambh
D-40 Defence Colony, New Delhi 12 February - 15 March 2015Aarambh, SH Raza’s latest solo show from 22nd February to 18th March, 2015. Created between 2014 and 2015, this series of new work is a presentation of a number of...Read more -
S.H. Raza | Pyass
D-40 Defence Colony, New Delhi 2 - 14 June 2014Read more -
S.H. Raza | Parikrama - Around Gandhi
D-40 Defence Colony, New Delhi 21 February - 26 March 2014Parikrama: Around Gandhi, an exhibition of the Modernist Master’s new works executed after his return to India in 2010. Raza saw Mahatma Gandhi in a public meeting in Mandla, his...Read more -
S.H. Raza | Antardhwani
D-40 Defence Colony, New Delhi 12 February - 20 March 2013Read more -
S.H. Raza | Punaraagman
Lalit Kala Academi, New Delhi 20 - 26 November 2011Read more
Art Fairs
Bulletin
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Leading Indian Modernist SH Raza gets first public museum retrospective at Centre Pompidou in Paris
By Kabir Jhala | The Art Newspaper 16 March 2023One of India's best-known Modernist painters, the late SH Raza, receives his largest-ever retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. SH Raza (1922-2016) (until 15...Read more -
S.H. Raza at Centre Pompidou
Centre Pompidou 15 February 2023With nearly one hundred pieces, this exhibition is the first monographic presentation of the work of Indian painter Sayed Haider Raza (1922 – 2016) in...Read more -
S.H Raza's biography is a glimpse into the lesser-known side of the iconic artist
By Arman Khan | Architectural Digest India 11 June 2021Imagine being born in the early 1920s in a small village in Madhya Pradesh amid the lush, inviting Kanha National Park, with quietude all around,...Read more -
A new biography of artist SH Raza celebrates his art and his times
By Vandana Kalra | The Indian Express 25 April 2021From a life of comfort as the son of a forest warden in Mandala, Madhya Pradesh, to becoming one of India’s foremost modernists, art historian...Read more -
In new SH Raza biography, Yashodhara Dalmia humanises the iconic artist's life and work
By Ankush Arora | FirstPost 26 March 2021One of the most successful artists of post-independence India, Sayed Haider Raza would have turned 100 next year. His birth centenary celebrations, launched by the...Read more -
SH Raza the modernist, and the man behind the canvas
By Mallika Bhagat | Hindustan Times 14 February 2021An Indian artist whose work evolved from expressionistic landscapes to abstracts, and found global recognition in pure geometrical forms is Sayed Haider Raza. Narrating the...Read more -
Spirituality, power and energy in Bindu Series by SH Raza
By Saanya Jain | The Stateman 4 July 2019The sheer magnetism of the black and white painting that hung on the walls of National Gallery of Modern Art left the visitors in amazement....Read more -
SH Raza: A retrospective titled 'Traversing Terrains' illuminates the artist's legacy, and his art over 50 years
By Suryasarathi Bhattacharya | FirstPost 11 November 2018A little over two years after his death, a retrospective — Traversing Terrains — at Mumbai’s Piramal Museum of Art, pays homage to SH Raza’s...Read more -
‘Admonish me if I call myself Hindu or Muslim’: SH Raza’s art was an exploration of spirituality
By Vikram Zutshi | Scroll 28 June 2018'Black is the mother of all colours,” said Syed Haider Raza. “It is the point from where all energy in the universe emanates as well...Read more -
S.H. Raza: The Burning Landscape
By Yashodhara Dalmia | Sotheby's 12 February 2018The year 1950 would be a defining moment for the artist Sayed Haider Raza in more ways than one. In leaving for Paris, not only...Read more -
The Layers of Coloured Silence in the Paintings of Sayed Haider Raza
By Udayan Vajpei | The Wire 23 July 2017Walking through the iron gates, one sees an uneven stretch of land dotted with tall trees, which gives way to a clearing ahead. At the...Read more -
S H Raza’s journey
By Yashodhara Dalmia | The Indian Express 26 July 2016The passing away of Syed Haider Raza leaves behind only a few of those magnificent men with their splendid art and grand ways. In the...Read more -
An era in art comes to an end with SH Raza
By Debarati S Sen | Times of India 25 July 2016With the demise of Syed Haider Raza in New Delhi on Saturday ..Read more -
Syed Haider Raza, force of art, never tired of the bindu
By Vandana Kalra | The Indian Express 24 July 2016When he was a child, his teacher adopted numerous tactics to discipline him. Until, one day, the teacher drew a bindu on a blackboard and...Read more -
S H Raza passes away; 10 things you must know about the legendary artist
India Today 23 July 2016Legendary painter S H Raza who popularised Indian concepts and iconography globally and built a towering legacy of modern art passed away today after prolonged...Read more -
The evolution of S.H. Raza
By Rosalyn D'Mello | Mint 23 July 2016Our limited imagination often compels us to conceive of timelines as linear. Our art historical impulses coerce us into either seeking narratives of origin, or...Read more -
SH Raza: The man who brought ‘bindu’ to the canvas and made it his own
By Aasheesh Sharma | The Hindustan Times 23 July 2016A founding member of the iconic Progressive Artists Group in 1947 – along with MF Husain, KH Ara, HA Gade, SK Bakre and Francis Newton...Read more -
S.H. Raza: The man who saw the universe in a bindu
By Ziya Us Alam | The Hindu 23 July 2016A few years ago, aged 89, S.H. Raza was game to talk to children almost like one, maybe just a couple of years older. Then,...Read more -
Noted artist Raza conferred highest French civilian honour
The Hindu 15 July 2015Modern Indian artist Sayed Haider Raza, has been conferred with the highest French civilian honour, the Commandeur de la Legion d’Honneur (the Legion of Honour)...Read more -
Beyond the black sun: Syed Haider Raza
By Uma Nair | Times of India 25 February 2015At the Vadehras, Syed Haider Raza’s show Aarambh plays out like a raga-its nuances and notes finding harmonies within the realms of colours and tonalities...Read more -
The last great moderns | Syed Haider Raza
By Anindita Ghose | Mint 13 January 2012He holds the record for the most expensive Indian artwork ever sold, but Raza’s artistic journey has been a long and solitary one Paul Cézanne—who...Read more -
Raza’s runes: visions of the self
By Swapna Vora | Asian Art 19 July 2007Sayed Haider Raza’s paintings with herringbone triangles, blue moons, licks of flame and inner vistas trigger transcendental experiences. India’s beloved Raza was born in central...Read more -
S.H. Raza
By Ravina Rawal | Outlook 26 February 2007With amazement. And a sense of satisfaction. I’ve lived fully, and worked with passion and great intensity as a painter and thinker. Tell us about...Read more
