S.H. Raza was a pioneering figure of Indian modernism whose work bridged European abstraction and Indian philosophy.

Born in Madhya Pradesh, he studied at the Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai and was a founding member of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG) in 1947. In 1950 he moved to Paris, where he developed a distinctive visual language influenced by European modernism.

Raza’s early practice focused on expressionistic landscapes, but from the late 1970s onward he turned toward geometric abstraction centred on the Bindu, a symbolic point representing the source of cosmic energy and creation. This motif became the defining element of his characteristic work.