Last works of painter S.H. Raza on exhibition
New Delhi, July 1: Paintings created by Sayed Haider Raza, when he was in his 90s, are not songs of farewell or leave-taking but of joy and life, said poet Ashok Vajpeyi at an exhibition of these artworks.
'Uttar Raag', the exhibition currently going on at Triveni Kala Sangam's Shridharani Art Gallery till July 10, displays close to two-thirds of the late celebrated Indian modernist's last works including his last finished painting -- Swasti (2016) -- and his last unfinished canvas.
These paintings have been inherited through his will by Raza Foundation, an arts and culture organization he himself established.
Other exhibited works -- created between 2010 and 2016 -- include "Yoni" (2012), "Roop Aroop" (2012), "Vistaar" (2013), "Jeevana (2014), "Tanmay" (2015), "Achal" (2015) and "Paysage" (2015) among others.
Raza, who died in 2016 at the age of 94, was a "master colourist", said Vajpeyi, Raza Foundation's Managing Trustee.
"Towards the end of his life he was living to paint, and painting to live. The distance between life and art was almost closed for him," Vajpeyi, also the former Chairman of Lalit Kala Akademi, told IANS.
"He must have had some feeling that these were his last years. But his life-long zest for art, the urge to paint almost every day did not dim.
"The body was weak, energy declining, eyesight inadequate but he would invariably reach his studio from the bedroom every day and sit before the canvas on easel," Vajpeyi earlier said in a statement.
The art maestro was born in 1922 in Mandla in what is now Madhya Pradesh, and shifted to France in his youth where he lived for almost six decades. Raza now lies buried next to his father in Mandla.
He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1981, the Padma Bhushan in 2007 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2013.
Calling Raza's works a "re-exploration of his favourite themes", Vajpeyi said these artworks are not imbued with feelings of leave-taking of saying adieu.
"They are not farewell lyrics. They are still songs of joy for life."
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
