Sayed Haider Raza

Acquired from an English estate circa 2014. The painting had been with the previous owner for over 35 years.

There is wear along all the edges with associated losses. Water marks are visible in the lower left corner which are possibly inherent.This painting is framed behind glass and in good overall condition, as viewed.
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‘Eventually he ceased to limit himself to pure nature, his interest passing to city and village life, has found himself moved by the Indian scene so full of sunshine and colorful costume, so crammed with the interest of old architecture. In the brilliance and special quality of the sunlight of central India he found peculiar delight – it pervades his pictures’. ('Vision in Art (6) S.H. Raza', A review of a solo show, 1950 in A. Vajpeyi, A Life in Art: Raza, Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi, 2007, p. 50)

These watercolors are archetypal examples of some of Sayed Haider Raza’s earliest works and provide a rare glimpse into the beginnings of his artistic practice. In the mid-1940s, Raza moved from Nagpur to Bombay, where he studied at the Sir J.J. School of Art and painted mostly in watercolours and gouaches, the preferred medium of art schools at the time. His subjects were landscapes and street scenes captured in a variety of moods, defined by a shifting interplay of light and colour.

Raza has recalled that this time was a 'sort of awakening, a realization of the real values involved in painting…in Bombay I realized that a painter should know his language as a writer should know the vocabulary…a painter should know what color is; he should know the organization of colors, their values, and how to render a theme on paper, or on canvas.' (A. Vajpeyi, Passion: Life and Art of Raza, Rajkamal Books, New Delhi, 2005, p. 41) During this time, with the support of western expatriates such as Rudy von Leyden and Walter Langhammer, Raza discovered and developed the principal artistic stimuli that echo throughout his career, the land and the nature around him.  These works were painted during his time in Bombay; while the application of loose, gestural brushwork, fluid shapes, and the play of light depict impressionistic overtures, the use of  vibrant colors evoking vivid reactions exhibit his leanings towards expressionism.

Lot 3 is most likely a view of Princess Street, Bombay and Lot 4 is probably a view of Kalbadevi, Bombay.