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Lot Essay
The aesthetic relevance of color has always been of primary importance in Raza's work.
In the 1970s, it was the colors of the Indian landscape that manifested themselves repeatedly in Raza's paintings. Here, he has chosen to paint tones of burnt red and rust, recalling the brilliant, scorching colors that invoke the vibrancy of the land and its people. The fiery tones are complemented by the use of black. According to Raza, black is all colors and is "the expression of their possible emergence: color's latent power." (Francois-Yves Morin, 'Meeting Raza', Coups de Coeur, Geneva, 1987, p. 25.) Raza's colors are not randomly applied to the canvas. Rather, they "fall into logical spaces that add up to the composition. They progress to create movement, and stop short at the point of superfluity to reappear where they are wanted ... Color is energy. It can destroy the image as it can incorporate and radiate from the image." (J. Swaminathan, 'The Paintings of Hyder Raza', Lalit Kala Contemporary 40, New Delhi, March 1995, p. 36.)
In the 1970s, it was the colors of the Indian landscape that manifested themselves repeatedly in Raza's paintings. Here, he has chosen to paint tones of burnt red and rust, recalling the brilliant, scorching colors that invoke the vibrancy of the land and its people. The fiery tones are complemented by the use of black. According to Raza, black is all colors and is "the expression of their possible emergence: color's latent power." (Francois-Yves Morin, 'Meeting Raza', Coups de Coeur, Geneva, 1987, p. 25.) Raza's colors are not randomly applied to the canvas. Rather, they "fall into logical spaces that add up to the composition. They progress to create movement, and stop short at the point of superfluity to reappear where they are wanted ... Color is energy. It can destroy the image as it can incorporate and radiate from the image." (J. Swaminathan, 'The Paintings of Hyder Raza', Lalit Kala Contemporary 40, New Delhi, March 1995, p. 36.)