Osian's Auction Catalogue The Masterpieces Series | March 2010

65 The Masterpieces SerieS 34 s.h. r AzA (b. 1922) Germination Acrylic on canvas, 1987 S/d in English ‘RAZA 87’ l.r., S/d, sized & titled “GERMINATION” in English and in Devanagari on verso 39.4 x 39.4 in (100.0 x 100.0 cm) Provenance Private Collection, New Delhi. Acquired directly from the Artist. INR 12,000,000 – 18,000,000 US$ 250,000 – 375,000 35 s.h. r AzA (b. 1922) Bindu Acrylic on canvas, 1994 S/d in English ‘RAZA 94’ l.c., S/d in English ‘RAZA 1994’ and signed in English and Devanagari ‘Raza’ on verso Inscribed in English ‘100 x 100 cm, “BINDU”, Acrylic on canvas’ and in Devanagari “Bindu” on verso. 39.4 x 39.4 in (100.0 x 100.0 cm) Provenance Private Collection, New Delhi. Acquired directly from the Artist. INR 6,000,000 – 9,000,000 US$ 125,000 – 187,500 “The Ankuran or Germination series, which began in the late 1980s, brought into play the concept that the point carries within it, the potential for all of creation, just as the seed carries the tree within it. This came home to him [Raza] forcefully when a yoni -shaped stone in the garden of his studio in Gorbio, much like the stones found along the ghats of the river Narmada, began to sprout. He placed this stone at the entrance of his studio, filled it with earth and planted seeds. As tender shoots of grass began to grow from this, in an inspired moment Raza fully realised the potential of the seed. He formulated it thus: ‘The black bindu is placed in the centre of the earth like a foetus moving in the womb of the mother.’” – Yashodhara Dalmia, The Making of Modern Indian Art – The Progressives , Oxford University Press, 2001, p.168. “The bindu is the symbol not only of Hindu spirituality, but also of Indian art, aesthetics and awareness of life. It is absolutely primordial in nature. When I paint the bindu, I am aware that I am literally in the womb of time, with no disturbance of sound or sight and that I am creating a spark of divinity. I am not painting for the buyer or the lover of my art. I paint the bindu on my space, which is the canvas, in the solitude of my studio, it is an act of supreme consecration. Wherever my painting hangs, I create a temple.” – S.H. Raza, rpt. in A Life in Art Raza , Ashok Vajpeyi, Art Alive Gallery, 2007, p.113. “I certainly do not belong to the Neo-Tantric movement. My propos is very different and my work is the result of to parallel enquiries: the first into nature, and the second into the plastic order of form. These two enquiries merge and become inseparable in the ‘bindu’ – the single and original source, the consolidation of all energy and the seed with the potential of all life.” – S.H. Raza, rpt. in A Life in Art Raza , Ashok Vajpeyi, Art Alive Gallery, 2007, p.104.