A Colourful HomeComing

SH Raza presents his first exhibition after returning to India from Paris,where he lived for several decades.

As you enter the home and studio of the octogenarian artist Syed Haider Raza,the first thing that fixes its unmoving gaze upon visitors is his painting,The Inner Eye,mounted next to his door. Unblinking yet calm,the eye draws the viewer in and,for a while,you forget where you are until the man himself arrives,wheeled into the studio by his nurse. A large black Bindu painting sits on an easel and,in its four corners,are the Panch Tatvas or the five elements painted in black,yellow,blue,red and grey. This work is a part of an exhibition that will open at Delhis Lalit Kala Akademi on November 20. The show,hosted by Vadehra Art Gallery,will move to their Defence Colony address in the Capital after November 26.

This exhibition of 20 new works is called Punaraagman,which means The Homecoming and everything would have been wonderful had I not had this unfortunate accident, says the 89-year-old painter,who suffered a fall and cracked his hip bone a few months ago,thus making him wheelchair-bound. He now paints for two or three hours a day,sometimes more if his health permits. In addition to the new works,Vadehra will show previous works from their collection as well.

The new body of works echoes Razas recurring concerns of the Bindu,the Nada and Prakriti,and,though his palette has more reds and yellows than when he was painting in Paris,the artist claims that being in India has not changed his approach to his work. Its too soon for anything to change. Whether I am in Paris or Delhi,my concerns cannot move so quickly because my approach for the last 60 years is one of swadharma or a single-minded approach that looks at ones calling in a concentrated manner. I paint not from what is around me but from what is within me. The younger generation seems to be in an awful hurry to gain fame and fortune, says the painter.

While I am happy to be back in my homeland,I am not about to change the way I approach painting in a few months of being here, says Raza,who left Paris to settle in India last year. His home at Safdarjung Development Area is a beautiful combination of air and light,with large glass windows,marble floors and a wood-panelled study that is lined with books and catalogues.

Raza is the last of the surviving artists of the Progressive Artists Group and that may weigh heavily on him. My colleagues,Tyeb Mehta,MF Husain and FN Souza,Bakre and Gade,put India on the world map during the 1940s and 50s. We painted in a manner that challenged the British Academic Realism. Our work was more spiritual,decorative and simplified, he says.

About the younger names in the art world,the veteran adds,

I think the younger generation of artists such as Manish Pushkale and Sujata Bajaj,whose works I have been collecting,hold the future in their hands.

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India has arrived on the international art scene and we must respond with enthusiasm, he says,raising a glass of red wine to his lips. He takes a sip and adds,Some habits from Paris have followed me to India.

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