Untitled (Crucifixion)

Church and landscape is one of Raza's favourite subjects from the late 1950s. A similar painting, from a slightly different perspective is published in A. Jhaveri, A Guide to 101: Modern & Contemporary Indian Artists, Mumbai, 2005, p. 74. Showing a church set against a rich vermillion sky, Raza uses gestural brushstrokes and a heavy impasto, stylistic devices which hint at his later 1970's abstractions. This late 50's work is significant in that it represents the turning point between two stages of Raza's artistic development. While the subject matter is still recognisable, the color and the application of paint become the key elements of the work. What results is "not an outward manifestation of reality as in his earliest works, or the imaginary landscapes in his early gouaches - but the 'real thing', through the substantial realm of colour. It is no longer nature as 'seen' or as 'constructed', but nature as experienced." (G. Sen, 'Bindu: Space and Time' in Raza's Vision, New Delhi, 1997, p. 79)