Modern Indian artist Syed Haider Raza dies

Renowned Indian artist Syed Haider Raza passed away on 23 July 2016 in New Delhi. He was 94.

Raza was world famous for his abstract paintings. His works had very rich use of colour, stocked with icons from Indian cosmology as well as its philosophy.

About S H Raza

• Raza is considered as one of Indian modern art's greatest painters.

• His works are mainly abstracts in oil or acrylic.

• He mostly lived and worked in France from 1950, but maintained strong ties with India.

• In 1959, he married the French artist Janine Mongillat, who died in 2002 of cancer, after which he decided to return to India.

• He was a founder-member of the Progressive Artists' Group that wished to break with the revivalist nationalism established by the Bengal school of art.

• He became one of India's priciest modern artist on 10 June 2010 when a seminal work, Saurashtra, was sold for 16.42 crore rupees at a Christie's auction.

• He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1981. In the same year, he was awarded the Fellowship of the Lalit Kala Akademi.

• He was honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2007, and Padma Vibhushan in 2013.

• On 14 July 2015, he was conferred with the highest French civilian honour, the Commandeur de la Legion d'honneur (Legion of Honour).

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