Abdul Aziz Raiba’s life is an excellent text book
for all art lovers, connoisseurs and enthusiasts. It was a daily diary of
approximately 70 years. He spent most of his life in a room in central Bombay,
where the canvases exhibited were made of a specially blended jute blend and
painted in different mediums. After that he moved to a distant suburb of
Mumbai, where he spent the rest of his life. His works are part of important
collections of different collectors in India and abroad. In his paintings you
can found the flat figures are initially surrounded by thick black lines drawn
in charcoal as a sort of special effect, which was the basic of his technic.
Raiba was educated at the Bombay School, a revivalist school influenced by
modernism. But he began his independent career away from the Bombay School and
the Progressive Artists Group.
Raiba was truly a humble artist who did not believe in commercializing his own art and creations. Unlike his contemporaries, Raiba's work rarely appeared at auction. He used to say, 'Work with passion and the money will follow'. We are really unaware of his earlier works, there was a sad story, which art works were housed for there at least 20 years, was destroyed in 1972. Raiba experienced extreme emotional trauma after fleeing from a collapsed building, watching his neighbours’ death and watching 20 years of work crumble before his eyes.
Raiba said: To understand the meaning of art, I have always sought to understand what life is, its complex processes and ultimate goals. I'm walking through a maze of desires and fears and I need to move on. Death is the only alternative to constant action, but death alone can end the chaos of action and inaction.
Raiba used to write clear, witty prose for her self-made catalogues and invitations until she felt she had lost her ability to organize such shows. He was really an extremely conversant writer in English, Hindi and Urdu, although he wrote few small things in Marathi for his kid disciples. And, he continued to paint vigorously in his home until his death in 2016 at the age of 94. "I am not happy with my job and performance so far," Raiba explained. The 90-year-old casually described his thirst for painting as someone who is thirsty and likes to quench his thirst.
A A Raiba expressed himself through the medium of painting. He craves it until his last days. Busy reading the Quran and painting landscapes and other emotions in his studio, he was as sensitive and energetic as a young artist awaiting departure on his artistic journey. He was influenced by trends in Western art, but gradually abandoned this understanding and turned to Indian 'gharana', which was too traditional in nature to be good for practice. His entourage, including MF Hussein, encouraged him to visit Europe, but he preferred a trip to Kashmir. He stayed there for couple of years and completed a large body of work that became important additions to his entire collection. An irreplaceable creative journey, a truly worthwhile artist, Raiba was always young-minded, energetic and tireless artist who is a worthy source of inspiration for today's young and aspiring artists. He will encourage us for several generations.
A A Raiba was an Indian painter, educated at the Sir J. J. School of Art in Bombay (1942–46), started painting professionally in the early 1950s. He won several medals from the Bombay Art Society and National level also. His paintings are in collections in the Cairo Museum, Egypt, as well as few European galleries. In India Nagpur Museum and National Gallery of Modern Art are also holding his works. We salute him in his 101st birthday. Abdul Aziz Raiba (B. 20 July 1922, Bombay – D. 15 April 2016, Nalasopara).
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