Delhi Art Exhibition Explores foreigner s View of India in the18th Century - New Delhi Times newdelhitimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newdelhitimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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.
How Delhi has been written over the years in novels and in stories (and essays)
The pandemic may have silenced the urban legends of the capital for a year, but there is enough and more in literature to look back on. Connaught Place, Delhi, before the pandemic. | PRAKASH SINGH / AFP
All great cities have great stories. New York, Cairo, Istanbul, Moscow, Shanghai among others, all have their grand, capacious histories, replete with triumphs, setbacks and even the odd comic interlude. Delhi has its glorious chronicles too, but they compete with those of New Delhi and more recently of all the Newer Delhis in the making.