A A Raiba

Abdul Aziz Raiba was born in 1922 – 15 April 2016[2]) . His art education was at the Sir J J School of Art, Mumbai and started painting professionally in the early 1950s. He won several medals from the Bombay Art Society: Bronze and silver medals, 1947–51 and the gold medal in 1956. His paintings are in collections in the Cairo Museum in Egypt, in the Nagpur Museum and at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi. His work has been shown in over 20 exhibitions. He painted several large murals for clients such as Air India and Ashok Hotel. His work is characterised by bold shapes, strong outlines and simple use of sophisticated color. He often use a deliberately naive perspective. His father was a tailor and he came from a family of meager means. Education from an early age for him was dependent on the availability of scholarships. He learnt Arabic calligraphy, and a Hindu teacher seeing this ability, realised he could draw well, told him that he had a talent of great use and introduced him to the artist Dandavatimath. Dandavatimath who had established a school called Nutan Kala Mandir, Raiba studied at the school for a foundation course, learning basic techniques essential for admission to the Sir JJ School of Art. Raiba was introduced to Charles Gerard, then dean of Sir JJ School of Art, who urged him to pursue mural painting and work with oils. Seeking to establish a distinct style, Raiba rejected western norms of landscape painting. In his works the use of light is akin to that of miniature paintings. He blurred out the horizon and instead illuminated intended subjects, giving them a three-dimensional sculpted quality. Therefore, like miniature paintings various perspectives lie in the same plane. In his portraits of village folk, he placed the woman in the same plane as the hamlet which surround her, but rendered in a perspective where she diminishes the other details. Raiba once approached Walter Laghammer, the Austrian art director of the Times of India for advice. Langhammer knowing his meagre means advised him to go live in Kashmir. Raiba took up residence in Srinagar and often travelled to the city’s various Mughal gardens such as the Nishatbagh to sketch. Right after Kashmir, Raiba travelled travelled the sub-continent in search of a subject. A large oveure of his work is based on recreated scenes of old Bombay and the erstwhile Portuguese colonies that neighboured the city such as Bassein (Vasai). Raiba along with just a few other modernists was a native of Bombay. His family was from the Konkan – coastal Maharashtra, part of which was once ruled by the Portuguese. His community – the Konkani Muslims were ancient seafarers. Raiba exhibited his show ‘Old Bombay’, often visiting coastal Koliwadas (fishing villages) to observe the old Portuguese Forts and embankments. Raiba passed away in 2016.