On the eve of SH Raza’s 92nd birthday, Vadehra Art Gallery presents Parikrama: Around Gandhi, an exhibition of the Modernist Master’s new works executed after his return to India in 2010.

Raza saw Mahatma Gandhi in a public meeting in Mandla, his hometown in Madhya Pradesh, when he was 8 years old. This ‘darshan’ left an indelible mark on him. Whenever he visited Delhi from Paris between 1950 and 2010, Raza visited Rajghat to pay respect to the great soul at his samadhi. He has always been inspired by Gandhian deeds, concepts and words.

Since his return to Delhi, Raza has been working on a series inspired by the teachings of Gandhi. He explores them in his own inimitable style without falling into traps of representation or illustration. They are tributes to a great human being by a master of our times.

In conjunction with the exhibition and the artist’s birthday, Vadehra Art Gallery in association with The Raza Foundation will release two books Raza: A Journey of the Master and Geysers. The Ambassador of France François Richier has graciously consented to launch these books on 22 February 2014 at the Embassy of France in New Delhi.

Raza: A Journey of the Master is a collectors’ delight with about 100 large, high quality prints of the artist’s important works. A limited number of books will have prints with the artist’s signature on it. Geysers is a book of correspondence between Raza and fellow artists and critic friends: Akbar Padamsee, Bal Chhabda, E. Schlesinger, FN Souza, Gaintonde, Laxman Pai, MF Husain, Ram Kumar, RV Leyden, Tyeb Mehta and Walter Langhammar.

-Vadehra Art Gallery

Image: © SH Raza