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Artist or Maker: SYED HAIDER RAZA (B.1922)

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Provenance: Acquired by the present owner from a Belgian Estate.

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Notes: Syed Haider Raza, an original member of revolutionary Progressive Artist Group, experimented with currents of Western Modernism, moving away from Expressionist modes towards greater abstraction and eventually returning to his Indian roots through the use of geometric space and multivalent symbols from ancient religious texts and epics. Lots 72 - 87 provide a comprehensive look at Raza's artistic oeuvre over the past 50 years. The 1950s works demonstrate Raza's take on post-Impressionism and particularly Cezanne through his use of structure and composition. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Raza's brushstroke develops a looser, expressionistic style while his palette shifts into various moods of color and retains an almost symphonic or musical quality. In the 1980s and 90s, Raza's harmony turns to India, to his beginnings and to his visualization of the universal starting point, the cosmic seed, the Bindu which culminates in Bhoomi, a sublime celebration of earth.