During the 1970s, Sayed Haider Raza’s works tended to be characterized by strong lines, a sense of movement and a rich colour palette. Whilst the current lot from 1978 exhibits hallmarks of the painter’s loosely abstracted style, this composition contains a stillness not often se♔en within Raza’s more expressive and dynamically executed canvases. Around this time, the artist was shifting to increasingly non-representational compositions, where essence took precedence over realistic for🃏m. The use of framing within the current lot alludes to the progressively geometric focus that was appearing in Raza's paintings during the period.

This work is also one of the few significantly darker, more brooding, atmospheric examples, suggestive of the delirium of the dark and dense Madhya Pradesh forests where he spent time as a child. The artist recalls, “The most tenacious memory of my childhood is the fear and fascination of Indian forests. We lived near the source of the Narmada river in the centre of the dense forests of Madhya Pradesh. Nights in the forest were hallucinating; sometimes the only humanizing influence was the dancing of the Gond tribes. Daybreak brought back a sentiment of security and well-being. On market-day, under the radiant sun, the village was a fairyland of colours. And then, the night again. Even today I find that these two aspects of my life dominate me and are an integral part of my paintings.” (Sayed Haider Raza quoted in Y. Dalmia, The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2🌌001, p. 155)