Pages: 234
ISBN: 9789380001920
The primary aim of this catalogue raisonné is to establish beyond doubt the works that belong to Raza's output as an artist. At present we have around 2000 works on file in various stages of completion. However, with an artistic career of over seventy years, the process of completing a comprehensive listing of all known artworks will be a rewarding but long one.
Therefore, just one year in, the decision was made to publish the first volume in order to promote the project and enable us to present something to Raza in his lifetime. For this initial volume we have taken as the basis Raza's personal inventory of works.
Raza documented the stock number, title, year, medium and size of over 800 of his paintings between the years 1958 and 1971. Through research of his archives we have been able to draw up the complete list in text form, and from this, we have managed at present, to source images for around 270 of them which we present in this volume. It should be noted that there are many works which Raza painted during this period that he did not include in his inventory for various reasons, for instance those gifted or sold directly to a client.
Therefore, works dated between 1958 and 1971 that lack a code are by no means less valid.
However, the project is a work in progress which will continue over the coming years to be continuously modified and expanded as new data becomes available. As such we hope that all errors and omissions will be adequately covered in future volumes. The end goal is to publish a full catalogue raisonné over several volumes documenting Raza's works from his early student days right through to the present day.
We hope that sellers and buyers will contact us to add, confirm, or rectify the information we hold. The catalogue raisonne has been produced with the help of the Raza Foundation and Vadehra Art Gallery.
