The art of Abdul Aziz Raiba (1922-2016) emblematically reveals the historical context of the multistranded synthesis within the Indian modernism where the unique fusion of Indo-Islamic miniature traditions, the Bengal school, European modernity and European academic naturalism, lent an amazing richness and depth. The artist Raiba is admirably described as versatile master in this show considering his mastery and perfection in using various mediums such as murals, painting on jute, elaborate drawings, layered reverse glass paintings, serigraphs, Urdu and English calligraphy and innumerable sketches that are created in his art journey of six decades.
The show focuses on the decisive use of line by Raiba which lent his drawings and the paintings a distinct vocabulary. The strong outlines that delineate the contours of his imagery, especially in his narrative drawings became an individualistic attribute of his art. In the works on display, the sharply defined, stylized and simplified forms are easy, undulating, sharp and severe linear clarity as in the Pahadi miniature paintings. Raiba's lines however are thicker and angular making his art nearer to modernists. The exhibited quick landscape sketches in contrast are done during his Kashmir sojourn (1957-1959), and are perfect fleeting impressions of the natural world.
Raiba's use of grids in the drawings are exemplary since he used the gridded layouts to meticulously plan compositions on paper and then transferred them on to the surface prepared for painting to ensure precise proportions from small sketches to large surfaces of the murals/paintings.
-Shivaji K Panikkar