Syed Hyder Raza (b. 1922)

In the 1940's when Raza was still a student at the J.J. School of Art his work was figurative and narrative. Executed in watercolour or gouache, it incorporated market scenes and vignettes of daily life. This thematic and formal concern was also shared by his contemporaries at the J.J. School such as V.S. Gaitonde and Mohan Samant. The present group of watercolours are characteristic of Raza's early style where a light palette and clean uncluttered lines express the simplicity and directness of the subject matter.