Blue d’outre Terre

Beginning his career as a painter of landscapes, S. H. Raza arrived in Paris in 1950 where his vocabulary underwent a change. Over the years, his European landscapes turned abstract with dissolving forms as is the case with Blue d’outre Terre (Blue of the Other Earth). At this time, Raza’s re-discovery of Indian roots through geometric abstraction was two decades away. Here, an amorphous mass at the bottom left is set against a dark background—perhaps a village at night-time—beyond which is visible a green patch of the jungle, and a blue patch, which perhaps, is another earth visible in the sky.