Syed Haider Raza (b. 1922)

This painting is typical of Raza's works from the mid to the late 1950s where he painted the French countryside in riotous hues, in a style which fused the Modernist metaphor with his frenetic exploration of color and his musings on abstraction.

'In works like Church (1957), the black steeple and charred roofs burn in their intensity against a smouldering orange sky.' (Yashodhara Dalmia, The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, 2001, p. 152). 'Be it village, town or church, the world according to Raza was aflame. It was being forged anew through the crucible of recollection—baptized through fire.' (Geeti Sen, Bindu, Space and Time in Raza's Vision, 1997, p. 66).