ISSUE DATE: April 19, 2021
UPDATED: April 9, 2021 22:09 IST
Sayed Haider Raza: The Journey of an Iconic Artist by Yashodhara Dalmia Harper Collins
India’s first modern artists, born before Independence, faced a near-impossible challenge. They sought to attain modernity at an international not a parochial level, but at the same time were required (and some sincerely wished) not to forfeit their Indian identity. They ran the gauntlet between those critics who accused them of selling out and those who dismissed them as provincial. For Sayed Haider Raza, the dilemma had a geographical twist. Given a chance to visit Paris as a young man, he stayed on and made France his home for the next 60 years. He visited India frequently, but finally returned only in 2010, six years before his death. Despite his émigré status, India clearly mattered profoundly to him, as a source of both identity and inspiration.