A look at five elements in SH Raza’s paintings

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Five elements — fire, earth, air, water and space — that traverse the distance between emptiness and plentitude, restlessness and relaxation will be in display in a series of paintings by SH Raza in an exhibition at Delhi’s Akar Prakar gallery.

Titled “Dance of The Elements” the exhibition will open on February 19 and continue till March 14.

Raza (1922-2016) was not only one of the country’s most prominent modernist painters of the last century but was also one of the most valued.

The paintings that would be on display are among the late phase of his creative life. They were created between 2010 and 2016, the year when he passed away.

These artworks are mostly acrylic on canvas while a few are pen on paper and acrylic on board.

There is a subtle interplay of the visual element and language in Raza’s art, the symbiosis of image and text. Every now and again, a floating line from a poem, chant or scripture found a place in his paintings.

One of the acclaimed masters of his generation, Raza experimented with a few modernist styles. However, he is most famous for abstract expressionism and geometric abstraction. Down the years, Raza was enamoured by nature and landscape that he painted rich colours.

He once said that Indian forests fascinated him and at the same time made him afraid. In his childhood he lived near a forest in Madhya Pradesh. His village that was a “fairyland of colours” also captivated him.

In 1947, Raza co-founded Progressive Artists’ Group in Mumbai along with MF Husain, Francis Newton Souza and Krishnaji Howlaji.

In 1950, he migrated to France as a student after he got a scholarship.

He was conferred Kalidas Samman in 1997, Padma Shree in 1981, Padma Bhushan in 2007 and Padma Vibhushan in 2013.

He passed away on July, 2016 in Delhi.

Raza’s works are in such demand that they have crossed the $1 million mark on quite a few occasions.

“More than a dozen of his works have surpassed the $1 million mark at auction, including Tapovan from 1972, which broke the artist’s world auction record when it sold for more than $4.5 million at Christie’s in New York in March 2018,” reads a post from the auction house.