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拍品专文
Sayed Haider Raza was a member of the revolutionary Progressive Artists’ Group founded in 1947, the year of India’s Independence. Two years later, Raza received a scholarship from the French Government to attend the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and left India for Paris. Arriving in France in October 1949, the artist excitedly recollected the encountering a thriving local art scene and eagerly visiting all the museums and soaking the culture in.
Seeing the color and composition of Post-Impressionist paintings in person for the first time came as a revelation to Raza. He recollects, “I went to the museum again and again and tried to understand what was construction according to Cézanne. I read the book of Kandinsky Concerning the Spiritual in Art and I studied particularly Cubism in which paintings were very carefully constructed. I also went to the extent of finding out what Mondrian and Vasarely had done with pure geometry and what Nicolas de Stael did to it” (Artist statement, A. Vajpeyi, ed., A Life in Art: S.H. Raza, Hyderabad, 2007, p. 64).
Raza’s practice during these early years in Paris evolved rapidly as he travelled far and wide in France, Italy and Spain and assimilated what he learnt from the works of art he encountered. Writing to a friend from art school about these transformational experiences, he noted, “I realise more and more now than ever, how the Post-Impressionist movement rescued painting from the aerobatics of the academicians to the creation of significant form. Cézanne, the earliest manifestation of this movement, occupies a dominating position and it’s amazing to see the crop of good art that followed later” (Artist statement, letter to L. Nordentoft, Paris, 15 January 1950). Following this critical realization, Raza turned from the limpid watercolors he had been painting in India to a bolder, more ambitious and modernist idiom, and began to work on a larger scale, first with gouache and then with oils to create a new kind of landscape.
The present lot, painted in 1951 and titled Landscape from Provence, is a rare example of the new, ‘schematic’ landscapes Raza turned to during his first years in Paris, and one of the finest illustrations of what the art historian and critic Jacques Lassaigne dubbed the ‘lightness of touch’ that characterized this ‘classical’ period of his oeuvre. In addition to the importance of pictorial space and construction that he learned from the works of artists like Cézanne, the profound impact that French and Italian art of the Middle Ages had on Raza is also clear in the present lot. As Rudi Von Leyden pointed out, “It was the art of medieval Europe and the early Renaissance that spoke to him most convincingly. Byzantine painting, romanesque sculpture, and the Italian primitives particularly of the Sienese school, such as Simone Martini and Lorenzetti, appealed to him in their austerity which was capable of conveying the most exquisite poetic sensitivity” (R. Von Leyden, Raza, Bombay, 1959, p. 18).
Studying these works in person, Raza trained his eyes, voraciously assimilating everything he could. It was Byzantine and Romanesque art that resonated most with the artist and his practice. The yellow-gold backgrounds, flattened perspective and stylized architecture of master artists like Guido of Siena, Giotto and Lorenzetti can all be seen in Raza’s work of the period and are evident in Landscape from Provence. In another letter from the period, Raza emphasized this influence, writing “Actually it is the work of middle ages in Italy that touches me the most – 11th to 14th Century. And fortunately for me this exhibition has work of this golden age. I do not understand why still people in Europe call it middle age – and the artists of this epoque are called ‘primitives’. To me these are the greatest creators Italy has produced. Renaissance and after it almost all artists leave me cold right up to 19th Century when Cézanne appeared on the Art World [...] I found two excellent landscapes – small ones by Lorenzetti. This bloke has done – 7 centuries before I was born, the things I am doing now [...] He was a great master and I want to draw from the Italian and Byzantine ‘primitives’ more than the best known masters of the Renaissance” (Artist statement, letter to Lydia Nordentoft, 16 June 1952).
Processing this kaleidoscope of artworks and historical references, Raza distilled them into his own logical artistic idiom. As his friend and biographer Ashok Vajpeyi points out, “So much exposure to a new and different visual culture could have easily caused a ‘turbulent confusion’. However, instead Raza was able to attain a degree of order and a new kind of landscape started dominating his work” (A. Vajpeyi, ed., A Life in Art: S.H. Raza, Hyderabad, 2007, p. 64).
Describing these works, Rudy von Leyden wrote, “There began to appear now out of his studio, after long and arduous work, a new type of landscape. Stylized houses, towers, spires meticulously assembled in paintings where they lived their own mysterious life. They did not seem to belong to any age of man [...] Over these works Raza had taken infinite pains. Each shape was carefully related to another, weighed, balanced till it had found its place in the composition which would appear unshakeable. Colour had undergone the most intricate studies to be able to express the finest overtones of a poetic situation. Because that is what these paintings really are: poetic situations. They were as austere and sensitive as the landscape backgrounds in the paintings of the Sienese primitives with their garlands of houses, walls and towers strung across the horizon” (R. Von Leyden, Raza, Bombay, 1959, p. 18).
Landscape from Provence is the result of a concentrated period of learning and growth in Raza’s career that von Leyden termed his ‘scholarly’ phase of crystallization. In this work, Raza includes a trademark border framing the golden yellow background, influenced as much by the great works of Byzantine Siena such as Guido of Siena’s triptych, Transfiguration, Entering Jerusalem, The Resurrection of Lazarus, 1270, as by Indian traditions of miniature painting. The colorful houses with sloping roofs appear like glistening jewels against this ground, bisected by a structural diagonal line that anchors the composition. This picture is non-naturalistic, fantastical and the product of two years of academic art historical rigor.
Despite its stylization, the title of this lot, Landscape from Provence, suggests another layer of meaning and interpretation. Capturing the magical golden light and dancing colors of Provence, the tall pastel houses now seem reminiscent of iconic towns in this Southern French region such as Menton. Raza travelled extensively through France during his early years there, and would have passed through these picturesque towns in Provence. Perhaps India’s most renowned landscape painter, the memory of place cannot be separated from Raza’s practice, even in its most abstract late phase. As much as Landscape from Provence represents the culmination of Raza’s art historical education, it is also the start of his love letter to Provence, a region that captured the heart of the artist and would become his home for most of his life.
We are grateful to Anne Macklin at The Raza Foundation, New Delhi, for her research and assistance with cataloging this work.
Seeing the color and composition of Post-Impressionist paintings in person for the first time came as a revelation to Raza. He recollects, “I went to the museum again and again and tried to understand what was construction according to Cézanne. I read the book of Kandinsky Concerning the Spiritual in Art and I studied particularly Cubism in which paintings were very carefully constructed. I also went to the extent of finding out what Mondrian and Vasarely had done with pure geometry and what Nicolas de Stael did to it” (Artist statement, A. Vajpeyi, ed., A Life in Art: S.H. Raza, Hyderabad, 2007, p. 64).
Raza’s practice during these early years in Paris evolved rapidly as he travelled far and wide in France, Italy and Spain and assimilated what he learnt from the works of art he encountered. Writing to a friend from art school about these transformational experiences, he noted, “I realise more and more now than ever, how the Post-Impressionist movement rescued painting from the aerobatics of the academicians to the creation of significant form. Cézanne, the earliest manifestation of this movement, occupies a dominating position and it’s amazing to see the crop of good art that followed later” (Artist statement, letter to L. Nordentoft, Paris, 15 January 1950). Following this critical realization, Raza turned from the limpid watercolors he had been painting in India to a bolder, more ambitious and modernist idiom, and began to work on a larger scale, first with gouache and then with oils to create a new kind of landscape.
The present lot, painted in 1951 and titled Landscape from Provence, is a rare example of the new, ‘schematic’ landscapes Raza turned to during his first years in Paris, and one of the finest illustrations of what the art historian and critic Jacques Lassaigne dubbed the ‘lightness of touch’ that characterized this ‘classical’ period of his oeuvre. In addition to the importance of pictorial space and construction that he learned from the works of artists like Cézanne, the profound impact that French and Italian art of the Middle Ages had on Raza is also clear in the present lot. As Rudi Von Leyden pointed out, “It was the art of medieval Europe and the early Renaissance that spoke to him most convincingly. Byzantine painting, romanesque sculpture, and the Italian primitives particularly of the Sienese school, such as Simone Martini and Lorenzetti, appealed to him in their austerity which was capable of conveying the most exquisite poetic sensitivity” (R. Von Leyden, Raza, Bombay, 1959, p. 18).
Studying these works in person, Raza trained his eyes, voraciously assimilating everything he could. It was Byzantine and Romanesque art that resonated most with the artist and his practice. The yellow-gold backgrounds, flattened perspective and stylized architecture of master artists like Guido of Siena, Giotto and Lorenzetti can all be seen in Raza’s work of the period and are evident in Landscape from Provence. In another letter from the period, Raza emphasized this influence, writing “Actually it is the work of middle ages in Italy that touches me the most – 11th to 14th Century. And fortunately for me this exhibition has work of this golden age. I do not understand why still people in Europe call it middle age – and the artists of this epoque are called ‘primitives’. To me these are the greatest creators Italy has produced. Renaissance and after it almost all artists leave me cold right up to 19th Century when Cézanne appeared on the Art World [...] I found two excellent landscapes – small ones by Lorenzetti. This bloke has done – 7 centuries before I was born, the things I am doing now [...] He was a great master and I want to draw from the Italian and Byzantine ‘primitives’ more than the best known masters of the Renaissance” (Artist statement, letter to Lydia Nordentoft, 16 June 1952).
Processing this kaleidoscope of artworks and historical references, Raza distilled them into his own logical artistic idiom. As his friend and biographer Ashok Vajpeyi points out, “So much exposure to a new and different visual culture could have easily caused a ‘turbulent confusion’. However, instead Raza was able to attain a degree of order and a new kind of landscape started dominating his work” (A. Vajpeyi, ed., A Life in Art: S.H. Raza, Hyderabad, 2007, p. 64).
Describing these works, Rudy von Leyden wrote, “There began to appear now out of his studio, after long and arduous work, a new type of landscape. Stylized houses, towers, spires meticulously assembled in paintings where they lived their own mysterious life. They did not seem to belong to any age of man [...] Over these works Raza had taken infinite pains. Each shape was carefully related to another, weighed, balanced till it had found its place in the composition which would appear unshakeable. Colour had undergone the most intricate studies to be able to express the finest overtones of a poetic situation. Because that is what these paintings really are: poetic situations. They were as austere and sensitive as the landscape backgrounds in the paintings of the Sienese primitives with their garlands of houses, walls and towers strung across the horizon” (R. Von Leyden, Raza, Bombay, 1959, p. 18).
Landscape from Provence is the result of a concentrated period of learning and growth in Raza’s career that von Leyden termed his ‘scholarly’ phase of crystallization. In this work, Raza includes a trademark border framing the golden yellow background, influenced as much by the great works of Byzantine Siena such as Guido of Siena’s triptych, Transfiguration, Entering Jerusalem, The Resurrection of Lazarus, 1270, as by Indian traditions of miniature painting. The colorful houses with sloping roofs appear like glistening jewels against this ground, bisected by a structural diagonal line that anchors the composition. This picture is non-naturalistic, fantastical and the product of two years of academic art historical rigor.
Despite its stylization, the title of this lot, Landscape from Provence, suggests another layer of meaning and interpretation. Capturing the magical golden light and dancing colors of Provence, the tall pastel houses now seem reminiscent of iconic towns in this Southern French region such as Menton. Raza travelled extensively through France during his early years there, and would have passed through these picturesque towns in Provence. Perhaps India’s most renowned landscape painter, the memory of place cannot be separated from Raza’s practice, even in its most abstract late phase. As much as Landscape from Provence represents the culmination of Raza’s art historical education, it is also the start of his love letter to Provence, a region that captured the heart of the artist and would become his home for most of his life.
We are grateful to Anne Macklin at The Raza Foundation, New Delhi, for her research and assistance with cataloging this work.