_— Ow, sainting titled Prakriti was inspire id by a verse from the My p a. Nature ts identifte Bhagavad Gite The outpouring, sposis, governed byan apparent. the evidence ts per eptible int the mysteries of nature, in al and buman life. ul with the supreme penerating energy is ina state of constant impeccable inner logic. Hidden oy force melamory anim force is reflec ted in myriad ways— as also through the i. Man is intrinsically rele 1 mountains, the woods the olive trees, The divine. human mine around him. In Gorbio, th the plants, the flowers, ihe stones hecome an part of my space and environment ied to the environment intrinsic +h nourish me, every moment. You see, as a As a painter I have whic writer you have your books. extremely simple forms around me: in my home in Paris, in my studio and in my garden in Gorbio. These living forms stimulate me, and contribute to my vocabulary which bas been growing continutoisl) Of course there is more tot than the immediate environment. 1 know that there are forms in the Calico Museum in Abmedabad or in primiti paintings at the Louvre, in Jain miniatures in Byzantine icons which are in my mind which are also sources of enrichment. tis almost the entire space which uplifis you which lends tiself to the right flow of pere jeption and of ideas.A pveinitinag, ervan vdetineally, On lie The we FE fie ew He sorte ay pains dagen ein yf renee hfe = Wie Degg tient (he prov iuviens He spenctwiede af Nye cleave canied nigh. in, dl wees, nretle cned finale frotevitios, ph cDernge of ined clei. We are aiware of the five “nos eh havnt tify iti ibe Duman body, our world and the other workde ¢ fitvater te . pisie jor, flew. ott aimed sky, These ane the panel ativan ktiti, jab, ppawale, gern vi . ” : ce samind, We discern also the mysterions siuth olernent whieh te the sod, ati, Pencepliile to Dima series anal yet heyonel roeenorntny, The variations ane infinite; the mysteries care total, tie pntrtenyy (be jive Bloments we se the flow colours: black, white, yellow red and dive, giving birth toa vision of nature But the most perfect orchestration af colour and form ta tronficlent ifthe painting is not inosted by pry vantcl feeling, Thos is prose only inant elorvatedd state of direct perception, “Waris How this miracle happens, how this state spon the artist knows. However, beat of ificear cart teske place i praty akshata’ pow one feels = note poetry, the finest MUSIC, the most sity vétat de grace” tbe is to be only meatium, cen exectlor the dicta hich give energy, clear perception « pen The artist seen come from bigher forces infuse soul, indispensable i" artdivya shaktiyon ke saha ke bina kala nahin i have been obsessed by such idea During the last twenty years ‘ists, at times I Like the anctent The aim is not » but to suggest, to expre essence Of the ce hyet Pradesh where I wes born and wher on have marked my entire life. Unconsciously, a sstablished, and this has continued mriniatr inscribe a verse in m to illustrate »atral theme with signs and symbol aN Th >} lived till canvas n colour, the forests of Madh the age of thirte communion with natut g years with de re WAS € during the long reper AWATENESS 12Dut Dy Rivxa anal faien the (ome of a Hith Whlte Cragg tite thie Hy, Abs HONE, yelow NIMHHe® wate Fron the vid the aru ALEeOnt irrrteetiatobyy th HHH View: tne qe the wate hue of nt hillside, ete Of Gorblo with ts twelfty-cenmtry church and; : vie Hols. of buribrmange tl Raza'’s studio is built of aes built of roupt:hewn sione wi panes: The patio is laid out with f ‘oak five the dorms ancl window hs 16 Alt andl view the spureher, to Vand the rustling Hells af sleepy as hi Be Mone mexiitate, You can hear the eal af birds and ct they climb the mountainside In this garden of two levels there are varieyuted preens: the grey-silver of olive, the yellow-eroen of bamboo, the boil green of spiky palm, and the deep intensity of two sleniler poplars thrusting up into the sky. In this garden of a summer night, many years ago when the air seemed magical, we dined and drank wine, watching, the full moon tise from the sea and set beyond the mountains, It ncl mine too and the earth seemed was Janine’s birthda young and intense alive, and ever so close: Every comer of this garden has been planted with care, to fill with one delight and a sense of woneer, An avocado grows in corner, a lemon The vil tree in another; deep red and pink begonias skirt the trunk of two olive trees; a purple flower sprays its petals from a bush; there are white and yellow crocuses and wild Fain iss. The herbal plants inclucle mimosa ane mint and myrrh Hans daisies growing on the basil and verven. At night the air is sparked swith these perfumes inder the porch to weather the climate is a pot containing a mango Tended carefully plant; and yet another pot planted with deep orange bougainvillaca, Mementos tram ie = 08 od memories sare. Kept another world which are cherished and kept alive = as indeed, memories are kept alive, vividly green. trees ouside and falls upon the winder arranged Various minute objects: dia, a Uribal bronze of we Within the studio, light shimmers from . : | tha of wall, Along this sill are as sh mask from Tunisia, a brass lola from An : en home state of Madhya Pradesh, a wooden figure from the vi oe a ira, a few pots with cactus, a pale of Tibetan gongs awhich whe temple in ¢ a ac es sound witha deep resonance. ib)near the door leading to hi blank canvas placed on a wooden easel oy | Rava sits in the son the floor, hls is to be found in anctly pan Outside his pail .e floor. Janin scl an established a of assembled tea bags or a If Raza’s paintings of , his wile Heel pap n her call the garden, working eceasionally preparing funch in the kitchen jared! to then essence, Janine’s work takes‘on the challenge of Further e¢ easand mediums of experiment of exploration into new ap scar sleeps in the sunshine; sleeps on a stone stab, black aging es of every conceivable colour are placed tall Greet ACEK, Fan Bona, the blac ist these plants ancl flowe se of order and Clarity. Stones of amid Sharpe Nave ela alse been ya sen stones of form that share an affinity with p mnt and placed in this garden, stance, like a bifa, is placed within the frame of a rou for ir v's circle within the square. A vertical lar ston corresponding to | A large hewn square uggest the male-female polarities whid f incular stone Po nother stone formation is like a key column rises from a able of these “found” stones's of his essential concepts, Yet define one em covered with fresh shoots af green grass. M figure of eight, formed by two circular pits joined together, He exclaims, “these are the two polarities which complement each other, of life and death, pleasure and pan. man and woman, black and white.” 16tvaclry heme PAINE. AC PENT origin Coe NH 1 origin, conceived over the ben ren year, anid “the sum teil of he ‘ Hirtte of tse ger plated 1, the Dirictie ca hits earlier paintings ~ whiten the he how Drenalin tony. pear to focun upon a ale inter the early, whieh b Brews nowy into a pila into a PAlANL, @ thee. A seed which Rus declares te te awed oy ae ambrye, ‘the Dewinning of life WINNIE OF life” — thereby establishing the wital link between mun and mature 8A commie foree, thie sole source «Hf eneriry for the universe SOs, howering in the Mie dateh Hired bee Tr is ne henge i P longer benign or demonise as the Mack Sun of the vnmventy IL i 6 vos : 7 iL it now mupidly moving through space, lit up with beilhiant diagemats of 12 Wight chat rncliate thronighy 9px ugh ike atmosphere, energising all thingn on this w the seed of Fertility (1990) Phe Hindu becomes also the Hija (1989) the seed; which is suspended against a vibrant green to give bith to plant life, The bija is »plit sometimes Into two seeds = as the atom splits into two ~ into two units of res! and green, or blue and green, to establish Polarity (1987), This fertiisation, the union le polarities, gives birth to a plant, Finally, the magnetic he sun, of bijd the seed combine in energy 1 between the male and fe power ol the black bindu, of sour give birth to the Thee af £feC 989), ‘The titles of these pictures may ehunge fram Gernitnation (W987) to Gertesis (1989) Wer ns exsentiatly the same. It Pree of Life 1989) to Ankuran (990%, Jout the concept remain the femilising powers of the sun and the eanh is the resurgent spirit of rebirth, which converge to give birth to new life: Germination, one of the earliest pictures in this series, celebrates this wondrous event ay plants mutiply around the central magnetic force of the bindu / the bij. They take on the entire colour spectrum, being wansformed from deep browns into ochres, yellows, orange, Vilrunt greens and blues and crimson red and purple - with one pure white bined in the top row! The ‘orchestration of these vibrant colours, the of the single plant mutiplying ad infinitum, revolving around the central source of energy — begins to resonate like pure voices in a full chorus: This becomes an epiphany to life and the living, sharing one source, one essential harmony, in the plenitude of this ‘earth's resources. 9speak about ratine ti vithout, ar the s about ourselves ~ Fritiof Capra, The Tir I Teasingly. there is a new perception of reali Changes in values that are moving avy inuly holistic conce New paradigm with fundamental y From the mechanistic view of the world toa ption of the universe: Different disciplines and g Pheres ‘of knowledge have begun to contribute to. this Pooper le eras oe Web of interrelated events. In momic physics sere eae formet Cartesian divisions between mind aad mutter, between the etre are te SbNemved, can. no longer be mained. The hypothess of the * Lovelock and the microbiologist Lynn Margulis would suggest that the complex phenomena. of the biosphere “can be \indersiood only if the planet as a Whole is regarded as a single living onginism.” Resumecting an ancien Greek myth, they have invested their hypothesis about this earth ‘with the name ef the goddess, sation of the univer Drawing his conclusion from several sources and scientific data, Friof Capra introduces a plausible and poetic evocation of Gaia as a living personification The earth then is a living system, it functions not just like an organism but actually seems to be an organism — Gaia, a living planetary being. Her properties and activities cannot be predicted from the sum of her parts; every ‘one of her tissues is linked to every other tissue and all of them are mutually interdependent; her many pathways are highly complex and nonlinear: her form has evolved over billions of years and continues to evolve. These observations were made within a scientific context, but they go far beyond science, Like many other aspects of the new paradigm, they reflect a profound ecological awareness that is ultimately spiritual? The ecological imperative of our times connects art to this: web of intetrelationships in which we live — to this modem world in which art is beginning once again, to play a vital role. In all professional spheres, a combination of philosophy and physics and macrobiology and the social sciences bring us to an acute awareness of the dilemma of the twentieth century: that the earth needs to be sanctified, to be made whole again. 2hditionally, the mole OF ae dn’ all anctent caahun fice: tO) make manifest the sacred and divine Shabtecnth century, st was invested! with Was related ty fellgponas a when this impul y reversed role civche world say: th vwsnmed! inthe heal a decilent human condition, Nic ligions decline” How, in what way nse? of wholeness? [fis eri 2 = : a Neness? It is critically AMPOMANE Lo recognise that the role of an was perceived Monee ery Mt westem cultures: — us linking us to “la delle’ matte”. “Thus aire oo ge that “art comes to our rescue and lis the veil behind which pore seals ae In Europe this clilemma was keenly senseck and! expressed by “ 15, ira Philosophers, and! artists of the late eighteenth century. In Germany the philosopher Schopenhauer, the writer Schiller and the romantic poet Nowalls, and) in America the panth Vi 1 : pantheisin of Walden and ‘Thoreau: i : nd the poetry of Walt Whitman return Us in clifferent ways [0 a romantic evocation of nature. unt raises ity headd when cout “heal” or restore tn, ‘was perceived that Early in the Swentieth century, the artists Franz Mare and Wassily Kandinsky expressed in words and in intages why they tured from the material substance to the essential spirit of things, Nature contemplated brings the amist to. a metaphysical view of the world — to see it in essence, abstracted. In his seminal hook of 1914 Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Kandinsky writes, When religion, science and morality are shaken... man tums his gaze from externals in to himself, Literature, music and art are the first and most sensitive spheres in which this spiritual revolution makes itself felt... they tum away from the soulless life of the present towards those substances and ideas which give free scope to the non-material strivings of the soul,” In the idealist tradition of Germany, this led to a “re-enchantment” through art. As has been pointed out ina recent essay, Enchantment consists of an apparatus of belief whose form of representation, of enactment is thought to exert influence over the realities it configures.” iment” in the magical pictures by Paul Klee, with his intense ts with plant life growing, swaying to music ~ their sectets, ir sexuality ir fri $" din his paintings titled “their sexuality and their fruitfulness’. This is demonstrate: Growth of Nocturnal Plants (1922) and Fish Magic (1925), both defined by forms glowing from within. In the course of his experiments he discovered that firstly, the i of pictures - a view that has growth of plants may be compared with the growth of pictures — striking Te Sea ne statements made by Raza, Secondly, he discovered that the forms and feelings are not unlike those of men! Klee images hhimselt as ee omniscient eye looking down on nature, and he writes, “The artist is a man, himsel nature and a part of nature in natural space,"* We perceive this “enchan fascination and experimen! Bjoe al the turn of the century wan Cp yew, who believed tit all things, yy, n connect with) nature few us, inv Fest i; til Most ip as ppronict (0! fea, nce het developed and apple’ sucknowledges the profeuned el te i socause Ra -qquiting, a technical and. foe mal ws. 10 inne” i nine” In studying eae in ment is significant t Crane is. fc mative yo vice given 00 hilt” nhasis to the study of nature. This suuter anne in ti gilowed he ad nce, he fe reamed wil greater mT h so thrill of nature's permanence along with j ce of all ber changes. It must give fein ed SG Feste Of ber our art onust reveder th ierneath? Maybe nothing. Maybe every, tiny, clemems, the appedran eternity, What és there wn Evenibing. you understand?” ~ Paul Cozanny @ primary source, ang for Raza, nature bad always been it painted in wate of inspiration, While in India he colours the landscape of Kashmir, the rivers andl bridges of Srinaga Nasik and at Ombareshwar- He recalled from his childhood days ah = Uhats at ss the dirk, dense forests of Madhya | aces, the brilliance of the summer sun over scorch and the parched earth, the rivers, the trees, the mountains — these = Villages se had left the it impress when he wit 1 needs to be said that indeed the only source 5 susceptible In writing for his exhibition held at Galerie Lara Vincy in the 60s, Raza had. hommes, je préfere étre dans un foret que dans fal le Je pnifore la mattire au been a deeper consciousness of his Indian sensibility : ji latedness of all things living, that has ha ki ll ackit, . — In recent years there has subtle awareness of the interrel consequences upon his «rt, He wou I believe today, even if I live ina big city like Paris, a human being is not concrete walls. A human being is living in 5 gift of nature to man whieh mies complex: an rich than inund worshipped. An ancient myn Prithy), wher the cath wasp cal | eat 1 the clepyy o the ge Jord Vishnu, andl restored ta her hth! performed by ye a 1 Aniitheny F iy 16 Whigtinvil fest a thy oer raya brought from bh al ile a apie 13 Mharw ¢ i healing the earth sy fealaring ther natura) rehenitton, aint a FemnCwN, sand ales ecological balanee 1 fered home sien merely th wer Na o yen today the rivers in Indi of divine origin, bur also the Pilgrims worship at the temples enshris oulskirts of cach village dhere iv ofien coconuts and rice, flowers and clay ida, the Cuuvery, the Penn ane tn 1 stlony, the course of theme tivers, On the tree 1 which offe rrmcle Aliens cf ores ard on gecausion gluse banyles to propitiate for children! belief which is common to the Mina, Huddle ane all of life as interrelated, wn With the belief in reincarnation is a propensity (0 » sin the first cen Jain religions in India, the and effect in nature. You se the ashram is placed along the rive abound in this river; and the acolytes fill d y sculptured reliefs at Sane ducks and fish ane ris weve, a I amich it pitebwns from natural access to the earth's bounty, The propensity to "see" the subject as related 10 all else in the animate world je ly Buddhist art the Buddha is paid fewer in inherent in Indian sensibility, In symbolic form, in the form of the pipal tree, In keirthees from Terigal, hve Hows spi outwards in concentric circles, spinning out peacocks and snakes and scorpians ane the British sahib smoking his hook stitched all ina one orbit by loeal village women — and into the popular imagination! e, the matrix of Raga's work, Hin paintings ane my These insights become in essence dies from nature”; rather, they are conceived iis metaphors ef the univierse of referents, They condense In one staternent, one isha the and growth in all its convplenities, longer “Ss! — with a minimal use vital process of nature's dynam: ‘The five Elements, the pancha bhitas, are considered in Indian thought to ceomtiznte the “maw material” for everything in this universe, Raza introduces them itt e paintings, as he explicitly mentions, through five bold colours of hack, white, red, yellow and blue. Secondary colours rarely play a major tele, exeept on occasion 3s itt Ankuran, to suggest the effulgence cof mature, the triangle, and of horizontal and of the circle, the “1 , ae iisteriieles his pictures 10 signily the ‘elements in nature, Ap we shall see wbother exbIbitiOn COnsisted of | OF Farge py The ars, presented by the a : a eS Ay the French Cons) Sof mod rhe Works « st OmsH late a eee yf Braque, Rouault an, i He 4M Bombay ee , ; te he for Lite youealed the passionate life of Methisng Irene Posing peoidel 4 jj ing s rerced By the desire 10 See the origin Yineen (tn tome 3 , BINAL Works centres: and ultimately some of us lef i S = We ter 2 Y i rE " Gaironde and Samant joined us to an or Europe Rats oto large the 1 Khany Broup. Ww fe, fe kept tn pouch with each other; our being abroga ASS oad contrary, the first suiccess and ei as No bang ondon only confirmed the validity & On achieved jy 610 C4 LV Of Our worl porizons 10 coniemporary Indi werk, Y ANGIGN Paintiy 1g. licap. On the n Paris or And opened new inall artistic endeavour at some point, th |, ibe alone. The fraternal association, ieannbesen is eventually hel ee . isis and exe i 0 5 ) . Ly 9 piows, so necessary in the formative stage, becomes eos inner dialogue begins. With time, almost every — An m . en aber of the pro responded to his oibn personal yearnings, impulses and f the grote and followed his own distinct path, The group ral ee : ' outlived its uirpose and by mutual agreeme acne : Pp ig nt it twas dissolved in 1956 My stay in B ombay during the years 1943-50 was indeed for me a great experience, both as a man and as an artist. Away from my family and completely independent, I faced the hard reatiives of everyday living. As a painter, for the first time, T1vas confronted with the real problems of art ar ved culture. In retrospect, the only rit }can claim is that 1 was possessed with a burning desire to me} dl solutions to my problems learn and a determination to fin ledge with gratitude the ig the seven years by my teachers, al J must acknou Bombay was generous an given fo me durin assistance and encourageme! the most important formative period of life- J ibe government: friends, art lovers, institutions an 33became independent, in 1947, Rtaza was ewenty-five year N the yesr that tinedi pl tas 9 ite: Tine of coming of age: a tithe of anticipe M tunel, Of a feverish fa new klentity that swept through the censiry that way rwakenin “ike Puts it 4 volcano — ready 10 burst” As We could move mountains! We were in the process of becoming oursely cal at read Abts rants how Bembay was ripped by comeunal s fom he ei stisie mou a of how “the city was divided berween ‘Hindu Bombay Besrinsig bic. fn 7 no communication between the two. Fear gripped not any Berieyttean: he majority.” He describes then the day of Independence in en he joined a massive procession from Gowalia ‘Tank 10 Flora Fountain: ‘Quiet reflection and intraspection was not passible that day. ‘There was too much excitement, All Bombay was at Gowalia Tank maidan and at last the Procession started. There must have been a million people in the three-mile Jong procession. 1 never saw the whole of it. Iwas not an island. 1 was a drop inthe ocean, and f wondered if a drop can see the ocean as a whole 1 was one of a million performers in the greatest drama of our century, and was I proud of this moment? Many who had lived through those critical five years from the Quit India movement to Independence might have asked themselves the same question. Their experiences seem to have been similar: a sense of cuphoria mixed with sadness, the coming together of @ people with apprehension in the forging of a new destiny. It was inevitable that this idealism would affect the artists as well — who would aspire in the new-found freedom to forge a new language of art Bur there was something else to be reckoned with, in India’s “wyst with destiny”. With the coming of birth, there was also death in the assassination of the Mahatma. Communal riots that ravaged the country for two years concluded with the birth of two countries instead of one, bringing the pain of separation in families that were forced apart. In that same moment of freedom, a sense of moral responsibility was forced upon Indians. The reaction of many Muslim writers and intellectuals is on record as testimony to the dawning of the great day, and the shattering, of a dream. Bom Coll Anh 35i tins it seems List these five years of the bith af the country happened also te be the forrmative period for the shaping of his wy ees : ee 1 Bombay, living prec sone Cee ae ee Se as met Wt school. His friends inckided among them Hindus and ims, He never saw himself, nor did his work reflect cencems of the Mustims who had remained behind in india. tn this endeavour he: was not alone; the mists Souza and Ara and Husain, Tyeb Mehta and Akbar Paeamsce, whe were all known to him, were also building on this new identity of a secular and “free” (ndia So also were writers such as Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, and actors such as Balraj Salini — both of whom were in the company of Raza to visit Kashmir in 1948, at the invitation of Sheilch Abdullah. ‘There was cenainly a new tempo to the climate of thought the search for a new identity expressing itself in different ways Today, almost fifty years later, we may question the concept of secularism as practised in India: to imply not merely religious tolerance but also, the ignoring of religious sensibilities. I must be conceded that today, especially after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, secularism in India is in crisis. Yet secular amitudes had contributed substantially in the '40s and “50s to the regenetation of the ans ~ not merely in the visual arts, but also with the seminal role played by IPTA, in living theatre and in the vitality of new literature, One of the unique aspects of Indian civilisation is the pursuit of “anekta mein elta” While the individual can pursue his own sense of identity, he is enabled to transcend, it into something much larger, encompassing the larger concerns of the country. "This is not a new sentiment, but one that finds evidence in the songs of the Sufs and the verses of Kabir, in the teachings of Guru Nanak, of Vivekananda. In this first decade of Independent India, Raza, together with other artists, writers and performing amists, were deeply affected in their ideas and their work to forge a vision of a secular and pluralist society,had yen when these experience mnory, Raza la painting that evokes mY cline led Jmanence (1 St og 5 sing ; rive times cal entiched by its ; uri square in white — nega Pristine i ed of all other colours 1 diag 1c '80s aire found to i sre found to sipnify the & ritked plac 1 aginst inn ae oa fee erent ahinmer agains! the radiation of Concentric septiares 4 he res) chimmer against the definition of faint white hots | ty ourwards ~ 5 raing the coming rogetner of hundreds of indivicanl ve", hn paintings by Raza such as Jrimanenc, yee { that some rice essentially to black and white, This s esp jy will be noticed st tothe colourful wor Fk ks of oyful canes Pete nochrome ret intends to mak tatement. If contra ran, the monochrome reduces the picture 40 its bare ea for instance, 7 Anks t : sro recall tke observations BY Rudolf Amheim when he is commenting 9 Pen Guernica, ay comparison toa wark in many colours, a monochrome’ is a} alan less substantial materially, closer to a diagram — the VANS Stony “ am ~ the visu The image is reduced to expressive sh 7 shapes w ih of an idea. e rather than narrative. abstract, | representation ¢ are imerpretauly a uniformity which reduces all events to the dra TAKS Mast Monochrome creates light and darkness. Implicit in this also, you might say, are the powerful of good and ei, of victory and. defeat Bice neccney dies ane sand the White Juminious as the single moment of truth. charged with energy with the solid energy of the circle w id by volatile forces that suggest the complexities a vil he society ~ but which are subsumed by the central unity of the ord ae nee word and in one image is conveyed the secular spirit of “anekta mein ekta OR ‘This painting condenses the history and the agony Papa ‘The painting square, surrounde of “unity in diversity into one space, Bel aa . 3 na sik a but profound image are inscribed the words by Mahatma Gand ee zi to pain this painting, It is a message of hope arising from the lespair, aspiring, like the image, sts an the mals fa : the light which per darkness which : to ich pe simply, itis tense, a people in their momen! cof triumph. Quie 40