Sayed Haider Raza (b.1922)

Acquired from Tao Gallery, Mumbai

Good overall condition. Colors are deeper and more saturated than in catalog illustration.
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The current painting is a fine example of Sayed Haider Raza's signature meditations on the bindu. Composed of interrelating abstract and geometric elements, and a large and imposing black bindu, this work utilizes serene colours and the guiding principle of orthogonality.

As early as 1953, we see examples of the black moon or bindu in Raza’s work (see Les Hauts de Cagnes, illustrated in Michel Imbert, Raza: An Introduction to His Painting, 2003, p. 30). From the artist’s powerful expressionistic abstractions created throughout the 1970s, Raza emerges with fully formed meditations on the bindu in the 1980s. These permutations of the bindu dominate Raza’s later career works, such as the current painting. The artist elaborates: “The bindu is the symbol not only of Hindu spirituality, but also of Indian art, aesthetics and awareness of life. It is absolutely primordial in its nature. When I paint the bindu, I am aware that I am literally in the womb of time, with no disturbance of sound or sight and that I am creating a spark of divinity. I am not painting for the buyer or the lover of my art … I paint to go on a journey within myself. I am excited that when I paint the bindu on my space—which is the canvas—in the solitude of my studio, it is an act of supreme consecration. Wherever my painting hangs, I create a temple.” ('Inspired by the Dot', Deccan Herald, 14 December, 2003, http://archive.deccanherald.com/Deccanherald/dec14/at5.asp)

Raza's exacting methodology recalls the precision and iconographic symbolism of Vedic theology. The bindu or seed, represented by concentric circles, is often paired in Raza's work with the upwards-pointing triangle (the masculine principle) and the downwards-pointing triangle (the feminine principle), suggesting divine union through sacred geometry. The mystical union of diametric opposites: masculine/feminine and day/night constitutes the algebra of Indian metaphysics, and imbues Raza's artistic vocabulary with a mythopoeic directive. In this painting, Raza has focussed and emphasized the female, titling the work Nari, which is the Sanskrit word for woman. The downwards pointing triangle or feminine principle is the largest and most prominent feature in the painting. The beautiful inscription in Sanskrit reads, Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra Devata, which translates to ‘where women are worshipped, that is where God resides’. Raza is essentially highlighting his admiration of the feminine divine.