Syed Haider Raza was born in 1922, Babaria (Madhya Pradesh), Raza graduated from Sir J.J. School of Arts, Mumbai in 1943 and became one of the founding members of Progressive Artists Group in 1947. He received the French Government Scholarship in 1950 to study at Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He is a recipient of Prix de la Critique, Paris, 1956; Rajkeeya Samman and Kalidas Samman by Government of Madhya Pradesh, 1978 & 1997; Officier de L'Ordre Des Arts et des Lettres by Government of France, 2002. He was conferred Padma Shri in 1981 and Padma Bhushan in 2007 by the Government of India. He was honoured with the Fellowship of the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1983.
In his long career, Raza has held several solo and group exhibitions in India and abroad which include Biennale de Venice, 1956; Biennale de Menton, 1964, 66, 68, 72 & 76; Biennale du Moroc, Rabat, 1963; Biennale, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal, 1986; Biennial of Havana, 1987; Jane Woorhese Zimmerli Art Museum, New Jersey, 2002; Swasti, NGMA, New Delhi, 2007. Several publications have been released on his life and work which include Bindu: Space and Time in Razas Vision by Geeti Sen, 1997; Raza by Ashok Vajpeyi, 2002 and A Life in Art: Raza written & edited by Ashok Vajpeyi, 2007.
"The Bindu symbolizes the seed, bearing the potential of all life", Sayed Haider Raza calls his work a "result of two parallel enquiries." Firstly, it is aimed at a "pure plastic order" and secondly, it concerns the theme of nature. Both converge into a single point and become inseparable - the "Bindu" (the dot or the epicentre). Raza's work has formalism, for which he trained in France, as well as the mystic aspects of Hindu philosophy.
His early themes were drawn from his memories of a childhood spent in the forests of his native village of Barbaria, in Madhya Pradesh. Raza's style has evolved over the years -he began with expressionist landscapes, which became rigid, geometric representations of landscape in the 1950s. Later, the lines blurred and colour began to dominate; his theme was still landscape but it was now non-representational. In the late 70s, he focus turned to pure geometrical forms; his images were improvisations on an essential theme: that of the mapping out of a metaphorical space in the mind. The circle or "Bindu" now became more of an icon, sacred in its symbolism, and placing his work in an Indian context.
Raza lives and works in Paris and Gorbio in France.
