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Lot Essay
"When Raza first arrived in Paris in 1950, I was there at the station
to welcome him. I still remember how, even as he alighted from the
train, he was infused with enthusiasm for Paris, and how within minutes he was talking about the Louvre and Picasso. I attempted to introduce
him to other dimensions of the city -- the place, the people, the
weather, the life -- but he was lost in other dreams. He was already
planning his schedule of study, when he would work and when he would
visit other exhibitions and museums in the city. He valued time
immensely and wanted to use it for work and work alone. He felt he
might never get such a chance again, and wanted to experience this once in a lifetime opportunity to its fullest -- little did he know at that time that he would be spending his life here." -- Ram Kumar
After spending more than a decade in France, working within the styles of the École de Paris and Abstract Expressionism, Raza's artistic path brought him full circle and he began to integrate vital elements of his Indian childhood and cultural heritage into his paintings. "I am grateful [...] that I could come to a certain recognition in the art world in France and the rest of the world. But I was still unhappy. I said to myself: Yes, it is all right to be an important painter of the École de Paris, but where is your Indian background Raza? I asked myself and I started coming more and more regularly to India - for two to three months every year to study again what Indian culture was, what Indian sculpture was. I went to Ellora and Ajanta, I went to Benares, I went to Gujarat and Rajasthan. I looked at the sculptures and paintings, I read books and still I needed another twenty years to arrive where I am today." (Raza cited in 'A Conversation with Raza', Raza: A Retrospective, exhibition catalogue, New York, 2007, unpaginated)
During visits that Raza made to India in the 1960s and 70s he frequently made Kekee Manzil, the striking Gandhy residence in Bombay his home. Khorshed Gandhy recalls, "Despite the distance with Raza in Paris and us in India, we developed a very strong artist to gallery friendship. We dealt exclusively with his work in India. His were some of the most memorable exhibitions". (cited in Karin Zitzewitz, Crossing generations: diVERGE, Forty Years of Gallery Chemould, exhibition catalogue, Mumbai, 2003, p. 76)
On one extended visit to Bombay with his wife Janine in the 1970s, Raza set up a makeshift studio at Kekee Manzil, where he painted for almost six months. During this visit, Raza and Janine also joined the Gandhys on vacation at their family home in Matheran, a hill station located about 90 km from Bombay. The burnt red laterite earth and spectacular topography of the Western Ghats range deeply moved Raza, who sought to express this experience of Nature and India through his painting. "Nature became to Raza something not to be observed or to be imagined but something to be experienced in the very act of putting paint on canvas." (Rudolf von Leyden, "Metamorphosis", Raza, Mumbai, 1985, unpaginated)
Although this painting is inspired by Matheran and references the hill station's specific geography, its implications transcend the local. Similar to some of Raza's most significant works including Rajasthan (1975 and 1983), Jaisalmer (1975), Saurashtra (1983) and Satpura (1984), here the experience of nature is presented as a universal, spiritual phenomenon.
to welcome him. I still remember how, even as he alighted from the
train, he was infused with enthusiasm for Paris, and how within minutes he was talking about the Louvre and Picasso. I attempted to introduce
him to other dimensions of the city -- the place, the people, the
weather, the life -- but he was lost in other dreams. He was already
planning his schedule of study, when he would work and when he would
visit other exhibitions and museums in the city. He valued time
immensely and wanted to use it for work and work alone. He felt he
might never get such a chance again, and wanted to experience this once in a lifetime opportunity to its fullest -- little did he know at that time that he would be spending his life here." -- Ram Kumar
After spending more than a decade in France, working within the styles of the École de Paris and Abstract Expressionism, Raza's artistic path brought him full circle and he began to integrate vital elements of his Indian childhood and cultural heritage into his paintings. "I am grateful [...] that I could come to a certain recognition in the art world in France and the rest of the world. But I was still unhappy. I said to myself: Yes, it is all right to be an important painter of the École de Paris, but where is your Indian background Raza? I asked myself and I started coming more and more regularly to India - for two to three months every year to study again what Indian culture was, what Indian sculpture was. I went to Ellora and Ajanta, I went to Benares, I went to Gujarat and Rajasthan. I looked at the sculptures and paintings, I read books and still I needed another twenty years to arrive where I am today." (Raza cited in 'A Conversation with Raza', Raza: A Retrospective, exhibition catalogue, New York, 2007, unpaginated)
During visits that Raza made to India in the 1960s and 70s he frequently made Kekee Manzil, the striking Gandhy residence in Bombay his home. Khorshed Gandhy recalls, "Despite the distance with Raza in Paris and us in India, we developed a very strong artist to gallery friendship. We dealt exclusively with his work in India. His were some of the most memorable exhibitions". (cited in Karin Zitzewitz, Crossing generations: diVERGE, Forty Years of Gallery Chemould, exhibition catalogue, Mumbai, 2003, p. 76)
On one extended visit to Bombay with his wife Janine in the 1970s, Raza set up a makeshift studio at Kekee Manzil, where he painted for almost six months. During this visit, Raza and Janine also joined the Gandhys on vacation at their family home in Matheran, a hill station located about 90 km from Bombay. The burnt red laterite earth and spectacular topography of the Western Ghats range deeply moved Raza, who sought to express this experience of Nature and India through his painting. "Nature became to Raza something not to be observed or to be imagined but something to be experienced in the very act of putting paint on canvas." (Rudolf von Leyden, "Metamorphosis", Raza, Mumbai, 1985, unpaginated)
Although this painting is inspired by Matheran and references the hill station's specific geography, its implications transcend the local. Similar to some of Raza's most significant works including Rajasthan (1975 and 1983), Jaisalmer (1975), Saurashtra (1983) and Satpura (1984), here the experience of nature is presented as a universal, spiritual phenomenon.