S. H. Raza Biography 
Syed Haider Raza, shortly known as S. H. Raza is an artist and painter who resides in France since 1950. He has been awarded with the Padma Shri and Fellowship of the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1981, Padma Bhushan in 2007and most recently, Padma Vibhushan in 2013. On 10 June 2010 when his seminal work, 'Saurashtra' was sold for INR 16.42 crore ($3,486,965) at a Christie's auction, he became India's priciest modern artist. In 1956 he was given Prix de la critique in Paris, becoming the first non-French artist to receive the honour.
Raza was born in Babaria of Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh on 22 February 1922. His father, Sayed Mohammed Razi was the Deputy Forest Ranger of the district. He started his drawing at the age of 12. His school education was completed from Government High School, Damoh. Then he studied at Nagpur School of Art, Nagpur during the period - 1939–43. After that he studied at Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai till 1947. He moved to France in the year 1950 and got settled. He joined Ecole nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts (ENSB-A) in Paris and studied will 1953 on a Govt. of France scholarship. After that he toured Europe and conducted several art exhibitions. He received Prix de la critique in Paris in the year 1956. For his solo show conduced in Mumbai in the year 1946 at Bombay Art Society Salon before moving to Paris, he was awarded with the Silver Medal of the society.
In 1947, he became one of the founding members of revolutionary Bombay Progressive Artists' Group (PAG). K.H. Ara and F.N. Souza were the other two members behind this organization. He lost his mother the same year and father died one year later. When his relatives migrated to Pakistan after partition, he too left India. Yet he still maintains strong ties with India.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 08, 2014
