Sayed Haider Raza

‘[Raza] sees the world in terms of Nature, and of humanity and city and village against the backdrop of Nature… As the son of a Forest Ranger in the Central Provinces, he was early subjected to the implements of Nature at her most impressive, and soon realised that his natural love for her must find expression… he found himself moved by the Indian scene so full of sunshine and colourful 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)

The current watercolor is an archetypal example of Sayed Haider Raza’s earliest works, providing a beautiful insight into the very beginning of his artistic practice. In the mid-1940s, Raza moved from Nagpur to Bombay to study at the Sir J.J. School of Art where he mainly painted in watercolors and gouaches, the preferred medium of art schools at the time. His subjects were landscapes and street scenes that captured various moods, defined by a shifting interplay of light and color.

Unlike his quintessential city scenes of Bombay, the present work shows a view of Alleppey, a coastal town on the Laccadive Sea in Kerala. Alleppey is known for its beaches, backwaters and serpentine canals, colloquially called the “Venice of the East”. Raza depicts the bustling riverine scene in vibrant color and effortless brushstrokes.

While Raza was deft at capturing the natural and built environment in a range of times and moods – whether bright sunshine or monsoon rain – at the heart of his work was the people. 'Human habitation is integrated into [Raza’s] holistic view of the universe. When human figures are introduced, they are never apart, individual, or alienated from the environment.' (G. Sen, Mindscapes: Early Works by S. H. Raza, 1945-50, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2001, p. 2)