S. H. Raza
Village dans la Nuit
1957
Oil on Canvas
39.5 × 32 in.

S. H. Raza is amongst India's leading modernists. After being a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group in 1948, Raza soon moved to France in 1950. During these early, formative years in France, he started experimenting with his oil paintings and was influenced by the landscape and architecture of the countryside.

In this night-time landscape, the houses adorning the undulating surfaces of the French countryside are revealed by reflections of moonlight off of their light colored walls. The gentle movement leads the gaze slowly away from the village, towards the unilluminated nature nearby, leaving the viewer to imagine the realm of experience that awaits there.

This work displays Raza's landscape style at its evolved heights. Compared to the early 1950's, Raza has moved away from sharp delineation of shape, tending instead to prefer the coalescence of form through movement in amorphous polychormatic strokes. The affinity for abstraction shown here foreshadows the progression of his artistic career, first towards highly deconstructed landscapes, and eventually a complete change in subject to the geometric and symbolic.

Below are more selections from Navin Kumar Gallery's Asia Week New York Contemporary exhibition, Selections: Modern Indian Masters, on view at 24 East 73rd Street, Suite 4F, from May 2 to 10:

F. N. Souza
Untitled (Landscape)
1962
Oil on Canvas
40.5 × 37.5 inches

M. F. Husain
Blue Woman with Monkey
1960
Oil on Canvas
54.5 × 20.75 inches