Osian's Auction Catalogue Masterpieces and Museum-Quality III | March 2004

122 OSIAN’S 55 S.H. RAZA (b.1922 / Babariya, Madhya Pradesh) Elephanta S/d in English l.c. & inscribed on verso Oil on masonite board, 1969 95.5 x 27.2 cm (37.6 x 10.7 in) Rs. 1,750,000 – 2,000,000 US$ 38,900 – 44,450 GB£ 21,350 – 24,400 OSIANs S.I.R. ANALYSIS [1992–2003] Present Estimate 4,349.77 Refer to Lot 54 “ It seems to me that Raza is now liberated from the use of violent and brutal matter as he has been freed of his obsessions. His painting has become fluid, light, calm. His fragmented stroke is extending itself gradually across the surface, and is now being organized along unexpected planes. In the rather dull range of ochres and greys there appear tender touches of green and orange. The accords are becoming more precious, the impalpable blends are giving way to colliding affirmations. And the work is finding, occasionally at the heart of strange concretions, a centre of subtle gravity. For there is no doubt that there is a solidity, a certainty in these forms, a quasi-mineral aspect, a presence which faces up victoriously to the wealth of imagination.” (Jacques Lassaigne [Director, Museum of Moderrn Art, Paris], rpt. in Raza EXC . Gallery Chemould 1976.)