Essays

Message by Emmanuel Lenain

The Raza retrospective, presented by the Musée National d’Art Moderne at the Centre Georges Pompidou, will be celebrating in just a few months his birth centenary and paying tribute to a famous artist who has been instrumental in fostering cross-cultural influences between India and France.

Sayed Haider Raza completed his education in India at the Sir J. J. School of Fine Arts, Bombay (now Mumbai), and went on to cofound the Progressive Artists Group. Through him and his friends, this group greatly helped promote Indian art while laying the foundations of a post-Independence, contemporary art in dialogue with other cultures, which established India’s reputation. Sayed Haider Raza, active in Bombay (as it was then called) after 1947, worked extensively for this collective before choosing to trace his own artistic path.

The French part of his life started in 1950, when he was awarded a French government scholarship that enabled him to come to Paris to continue his studies at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. It was from this period, during which he was very prolific, that he met artists from the French and international scenes who were living in France. It was also in France that he found success. The Lara Vincy gallery, recognized for having been at the forefront of creation and for having largely contributed to writing a part of contemporary art in our country, exhibited Raza’s works. In 1958, it was in this gallery that the artist signed his first solo exhibition. A first personal exhibition is always an important date for an artist, and the way France received Raza also highlights the friendships that have endured between him and our country. Raza obtained the Prix de la Critique in 1956, thanks to the work of gallerist Lara Vincy.

In 1959, he married French artist and sculptor Janine Mongillat, who was well-known in the Parisian scene and had affinities with India. Subsequently, Sayed Haider Raza lived for a long time in Gorbio in the Alpes-Maritimes, and, during his many decades in France, interacted with numerous artists and art scenes, particularly the European and American avant-gardes, while returning regularly to his country of origin, India. His greatly varied work reveals traces inspired by these multiple encounters and artistic discoveries.

In offering an opportunity to discover the work of Sayed Haider Raza, the Musée National d’Art Moderne has produced a very important endeavour of quest and proofing that testifies to the artist’s curiosity, his diverse and endearing elective affinities. The Raza Foundation in New Delhi—an enormous resource—has made it possible to carry out all this research, which enriches the exhibition of archives and other documents that are very useful for not only understanding the painter’s artistic approach but also walking with him through the friendly dialogues he has had all his life with the milieus of culture around the world. The Musée National d’Art Moderne has also enriched the exhibition with an important cultural program that will provide a better understanding of the artist’s work and create links around his inspirations.

I would like to thank the Raza Foundation and its president, Mr Ashok Vajpeyi, with whom the Embassy has had friendly ties since many years now. I would also like to thank and congratulate the President of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Mr Laurent Le Bon, and Mr Bernard Blistène, former Director of the Musée National d’Art Moderne, for having organized the first retrospective of Sayed Haider Raza in France. It is a great chance to explore this major body of work in our country. I have no doubt that this remarkable exhibition will reach the widest audience, and the artist who actively contributed to building bridges between cultures and countries, Sayed Haider Raza, will be celebrated. May India and France take pride in the beautiful resonance of this event with the public, who will have the pleasure of browsing the galleries of the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris.

Emmanuel Lenain Ambassador of France to India

Eglise Jaune, 1956 Acrylic on paper 48 × 63 cm Courtesy: The Raza Foundation