Sayed Haider Raza

Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris

Acquired directly from the artist in Paris, circa 1970

Lura H. Smith acquired Indian art from a friendship with the artists due to a connection with Abraham (Abe) Weisblat, Lura’s brother-in-law. 

Abe Weisblat was an agricultural economist who worked with the Council of Economic and Cultural Affairs, a small organization funded by John D. Rockefeller III. In the early years, the Council provided travel fellowships to Asian artists. Abe sought out and identified many of these artists in the course of their travels. Amongst the awardees were Maqbool Fida Husain, Sayed Haider Raza, Krishen Khanna and Ram Kumar. 

This work will be included in a revised edition of SH RAZA, Catalogue Raisonné, Volume I (1958 - 1971) by Anne Macklin on behalf of The Raza Foundation, New Delhi (image ref SR2293)

Castillon is a village in the Alpes-Maritimes in southeast France. Near the village of Gorbio, where Raza lived, Castillon was the subject of a number of works the artist produced in 1967, executed on this scale. Expressively rendered in vibrant orange, yellow and green and deep blue, this lot is an exquisite example of Raza's 60s production, alive with feeling and rooted in the beauty of the painter's surroundings.