Sayed Haider Raza was born in rural Central India and studied art in Nagpur and Bombay before moving to Paris in 1950 to study at the École des Beaux- Arts on a scholarship. From the late 1970s, Raza developed a unique visual vocabulary with leitmotifs such as squares, triangles, and circles appearing in symbolic paintings that referred to Indic spiritual and philosophical traditions. Offrande (1986) is emblematic of Raza’s oeuvre with a distinct earthy colour palette of ochres, greens, burnt umbers, deep reds, and dense black reminiscent of the scorched, sun-baked land and dense forests of Madhya Pradesh where he grew up. The geometric composition, featuring horizontal and vertical bands of colour and an inverted triangle, draws upon the symbolism of yantras – sacred esoteric diagrams. It also demonstrates his self-declared enquiries that were “aimed at pure plastic order, form-order . . . [and] the theme of nature”. Raza’s paintings have been exhibited widely in India, Europe, Japan, and North America, including at the International biennals in Dakar, Senegal (1992), Havana, Cuba (1987), São Paulo, Brazil (1958), and Venice (1956).
—Latika Gupta
