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Lot Essay
Ayam nijah paro veti gananā laghucetasām
Udāracaritānām tu vasudhaiva kutumbakam
This is mine, that is his, say the small-minded;
The wise believe that the entire world is a family.
- Maha Upanishad (Chapter 6, verses 71-73)
Derived from the Sanskrit scripture, Maha Upanishad, the term vasudhaiva kutumbakam translates as ‘the world is one family’. A philosophical concept that emphasizes the essential interconnectedness of all life, this well-known phrase foregrounds a sense of oneness within the Universe and came to deeply influence Sayed Haider Raza's artistic practice through his explorations of the source of life and creation, unhindered by religion, race, gender or time. Raza's paintings are often imbued with a sense of ambiguity that blurs the boundaries between self and other, urging viewers to contemplate their place within a larger, unmeasurable universe.
Untitled (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam) was painted in 1972 at a time when Raza had completely moved away from Post-Impressionist influences and representational landscapes, and was honing his expressionistic, abstract idiom. This transition in the artist’s oeuvre followed a 1962 visit to the United States and Canada, where he served as a visiting lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. Inspired by the freedom and visual impact of the work of American Abstract Expressionists such as Mark Rothko, Sam Francis and Jackson Pollock, Raza began to paint with new fluid, gestural brushstrokes. He also moved from oil to acrylic paints, as they allowed him more freedom in his brushwork and new possibilities to mine the expressive potential of color, imbuing his works with deep emotional power.
As Raza later recalled, "Rothko's work opened up lots of interesting associations for me. It was so different from the insipid realism of the European School. It was like a door that opened to another interior vision. Yes, I felt that I was awakening to the music of another forest, one of subliminal energy. Rothko's works brought back the images of japmala, where the repetition of a word continues till you achieve a state of elevated consciousness... Rothko's works made me understand the feel for spatial perception” (Artist statement, Raza: Celebrating 85 years, New Delhi, 2007).
The composition of the present lot is anchored by swathes of radiant vermillion and orange at its upper edge, perhaps recalling Rothko's monumental color-field paintings. These luminous passages of color contrast with the richly worked lower register, a dark landscape where flashes of primary color emerge from a dark ground and freely intermingle. Inscribed in black Devnagari script in Raza's distinctive hand, the phrase vasudhaiva kutumbakam stands boldly against the glowing red field, drawing the viewer's gaze toward the landscape below, and reinforcing the work's meditation on interconnectedness and belonging. Like Rothko's Abstract Expressionist works, Untitled (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam) is deeply meditative, inviting the viewer to experience the painting not just aesthetically, but emotionally and spiritually as well.
As the artist noted, "The language of your painting changes when you start listening to silence. Within the silence of solitude, the inner landscape of the human mind moves into another pathway. I learnt to understand polarities – the co-existence of opposites that complement even as they exist. Life and death, man and woman, black and white-everything has a different rhythm. I realized how poetry can contain few words and say so much. Painting became the metaphor of life itself” (Artist statement, A. Vajpeyi, A Life in Art: RAZA, New Delhi, 2007, p. 345).
Udāracaritānām tu vasudhaiva kutumbakam
This is mine, that is his, say the small-minded;
The wise believe that the entire world is a family.
- Maha Upanishad (Chapter 6, verses 71-73)
Derived from the Sanskrit scripture, Maha Upanishad, the term vasudhaiva kutumbakam translates as ‘the world is one family’. A philosophical concept that emphasizes the essential interconnectedness of all life, this well-known phrase foregrounds a sense of oneness within the Universe and came to deeply influence Sayed Haider Raza's artistic practice through his explorations of the source of life and creation, unhindered by religion, race, gender or time. Raza's paintings are often imbued with a sense of ambiguity that blurs the boundaries between self and other, urging viewers to contemplate their place within a larger, unmeasurable universe.
Untitled (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam) was painted in 1972 at a time when Raza had completely moved away from Post-Impressionist influences and representational landscapes, and was honing his expressionistic, abstract idiom. This transition in the artist’s oeuvre followed a 1962 visit to the United States and Canada, where he served as a visiting lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. Inspired by the freedom and visual impact of the work of American Abstract Expressionists such as Mark Rothko, Sam Francis and Jackson Pollock, Raza began to paint with new fluid, gestural brushstrokes. He also moved from oil to acrylic paints, as they allowed him more freedom in his brushwork and new possibilities to mine the expressive potential of color, imbuing his works with deep emotional power.
As Raza later recalled, "Rothko's work opened up lots of interesting associations for me. It was so different from the insipid realism of the European School. It was like a door that opened to another interior vision. Yes, I felt that I was awakening to the music of another forest, one of subliminal energy. Rothko's works brought back the images of japmala, where the repetition of a word continues till you achieve a state of elevated consciousness... Rothko's works made me understand the feel for spatial perception” (Artist statement, Raza: Celebrating 85 years, New Delhi, 2007).
The composition of the present lot is anchored by swathes of radiant vermillion and orange at its upper edge, perhaps recalling Rothko's monumental color-field paintings. These luminous passages of color contrast with the richly worked lower register, a dark landscape where flashes of primary color emerge from a dark ground and freely intermingle. Inscribed in black Devnagari script in Raza's distinctive hand, the phrase vasudhaiva kutumbakam stands boldly against the glowing red field, drawing the viewer's gaze toward the landscape below, and reinforcing the work's meditation on interconnectedness and belonging. Like Rothko's Abstract Expressionist works, Untitled (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam) is deeply meditative, inviting the viewer to experience the painting not just aesthetically, but emotionally and spiritually as well.
As the artist noted, "The language of your painting changes when you start listening to silence. Within the silence of solitude, the inner landscape of the human mind moves into another pathway. I learnt to understand polarities – the co-existence of opposites that complement even as they exist. Life and death, man and woman, black and white-everything has a different rhythm. I realized how poetry can contain few words and say so much. Painting became the metaphor of life itself” (Artist statement, A. Vajpeyi, A Life in Art: RAZA, New Delhi, 2007, p. 345).