SAYED HAIDER RAZA | Aaj

UK Private Collection
Sotheby's New York, 19 September 2007, lot 20
Sotheby's London, 6 October 2015, lot 46

New York, Rubin Museum of Art, Modernist Art from India: Approaching Abstraction, May - October 2012

This painting has been cleaned, conserved and consolidated by a professional restorer and is in very good current condition, as viewed. Very minute black dots are apparent under close scrutiny, however these appear to have been part of the original painting process.There is light wear and rubbing around the edges of the canvas. UV Light: Several areas fluoresce under UV light, where the paint surface has been consolidated. These re-touchings are particularly present in the upper quarter of the painting, in areas of red and yellow paint. Please note this work will be included in a revised edition of S.H Raza: Catalogue Raisonne, Volume I (1958 - 1971) by Anne Macklin and The Raza Foundation.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The early and mid-20th century was marked by a trend towards abstraction in art. American art critic Jerry Saltz articulates this leaning beautifully: "Early-twentieth-century abstraction is art's version of Einstein's Theory of Relativity. It's the idea that changed everything everywhere: quickly, decisively, for good."(http://www.vulture.com/2013/01/saltz-on-inventing-abstraction-at-the-moma.html). Progressives Maqbool Fida Husain and Sayed Haider Raza also responded to this trend in the mid 1950s when they began incorporating non-figurative elements in their works. The very essence of the Progressive Artists' Group has been enunciated by eminent art historian Geeta Kapur, “This is what has now been recognized to be the elliptical looping of vocabularies and affects that have generated multiple modernisms. ...[Indian modernism] exercised its own creativity in the period of transition to modernity, devising formal transfers, visual articulations and cultural hybrids that were eclectic and integral to its own civilisational genius and to its own historical needs.” (G. Kapur, 'Modern India: A Retrospective on the Practice of Art,' India Moderna, Valencia: IVAM Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, 2008, p. 335). This subtle equilibrium is discernible in the current lot by Raza - a beautiful Indian landscape in rich yellows and reds. 

Western abstractionists may have influenced Raza, but the use of colours this incendiary and passionate was entirely his own. The Devanagari script inscribed on the canvas reads the Hindi word aaj, meaning 'today'. This work proudly announces exactly that: today, a spirit of freshness, the new, of a truly Indian abstraction, and a vital force for advancing history.