Vividh 2016: Multiple Expressions of Indian Art

S H RAZA
S. H. Raza (1922- 2016) full name Syed Haider Raza was born in Madhya Pradesh. He studied
painting at the School of Art in Nagpur and Mumbai's Sir JJ School of Art. One of the greatest
icons of Contemporary Indian Art and a founder member of the Progressive Artists Group, Raza
as he was popularly known, moved to Paris in 1950 to study at Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts
with a French Government scholarship. And Paris became his home for several decades before
he shifted his base to Delhi. Raza's oeuvre is marked for its spiritual essence, its myriad colours
and abstraction. The vague suggestions of a landscape of his childhood amidst rustic rural
ambience of MP that can be seen in his early works, began to fade away and became subtle as the
artist turned inward. The rendezvous with simple elementary geometric forms, symbols and
metaphors including 'Bindu' i.e. a dot or circle appeared in luminous reds, blues and other
colours in his canvases rotating around a focal point often symbolic of male-female polarity
bordering on the tantric. The legendary artist successfully retained the energy and spirit of the
land of his birth, and added to it a technical finesse resulting from his Western training and
exposure. Raza contributed to several cultural trusts and initiatives in India and France that
continue to support promising young artists to showcase their work internationally. His own
work has been exhibited in countless individual and group shows including the International
Biennales at Venice, Sao Paolo, Manton and Triennale India. Awards conferred on him included
the Prix de la Critique in Paris, the Kalidas Samman by the government of Madhya Pradesh and
the Lalit Kala Ratna and Padma Shri by the President of India. His work is held in important
Indian and international public and private collections including the National Gallery of
Modern Art, Jehangir Art Gallery Mumbai and Bharat Bhavan Bhopal.
SATISH GUJRAL
Born 1925 at Jhelum in Punjab, Satish Gujral studied at Mayo School of Art in Lahore followed
by further study at JJ School of Art in Bombay at a time when it was under the influential surge
of Progressive Artists Group. A fellowship in South America at an early stage in his career left a
deep impression on the artist's mind though he has resiliently retained his own style to give
Indian modernism his individual touch and iconography. Satish Gujral is a versatile artist and a
living legend in the art scene of post independence India. His early years of solitude due to a
hearing impairment together with the trauma of India's partition were reflected in his initial
figurative work that often featured people burdened by the tough circumstances of their life.
The experimental nature and emotive quality of his work in sculptures, paintings, collages and
murals are the distinctive features of Satish Gujral's amazing creative array. His play with
material and form ranges from ordinary people occupied in their routine work to iconic themes
and figures, in paintings or sculptures in ceramics, burnt wood or other material. His