S. H. Raza

Born in 1922, Raza spent his childhood growing up in the village of Babaria in Mandala district in Madhya Pradesh surrounded by dark forests and lush landscapes. This early experience with nature became a lifetime preoccupation for Raza, and he would revisit these memories on canvas in later years. His love of art brought him to Bombay where he enrolled privately as a student at the J J School of Arts, earning his diploma in 1947. At the same time, he made his living by working at a blockmaker's design studio in downtown Bombay, which overlooked one of the busiest streets in the city and inspired him to paint his early watercolours. His paintings attracted the attention of fellow artists F N Souza and M F Husain — with whom he co-founded the Progressive Artists’ Group — and critics such as Rudy von Leyden, Walter Langhammer and Emmanuel Schleisinger — three Europeans whose presence, patronage and influence was crucial in the burgeoning art world of then Bombay.

His enrollment at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, was to be the turning point in his career. In 1956, he became an overnight sensation across Europe after receiving the award Prix de la Critique.

Widely collected across Europe and U.S.A., Raza was awarded the Madhya Pradesh government’s Kalidas Samman in 1981, the Lalit Kala Akademi’s Ratna Puruskar in 2004. He has been honoured with both the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan by the Indian government. Raza was a resident of France for six decades before shifting back in December 2010 to live and work in New Delhi. The artist passed away in 2016.