A. A. Raiba - Gallery Dotwalk

AA Raiba

22 Works

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About AA Raiba

Abdul Aziz Raiba, popularly known as A. A. Raiba, was born in 1922 in Bombay (now Mumbai) and became one of the most distinctive voices in Indian modern art. A painter of immense technical precision and poetic sensibility, Raiba’s work bridged the worlds of miniature painting, folk traditions, and the emerging language of modernism in post-independence India. His early life in Bombay’s coastal quarters, amid its layered cultural and architectural histories, would deeply shape his lifelong visual vocabulary.

Raiba studied at the Sir J. J. School of Art between 1942 and 1946, a period that coincided with the growing assertion of Indian artists toward developing indigenous modernisms. Deeply influenced by Persian and Mughal miniature painting, calligraphy, and the lyrical tradition of Urdu poetry, Raiba developed a style that balanced narrative figuration with ornamental design. His surfaces often carried the luminosity of miniature painting through its textured, rhythmic, and imbued with a reflective intimacy.

In the 1950s, Raiba executed several important public commissions, including a mural on the life of the Buddha for The Ashok Hotel in New Delhi and a mural for Air India in the 1970s. He also produced a celebrated body of paintings commemorating the Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib in 1969, a project that embodied his engagement with literature, philosophy, and visual storytelling. His paintings frequently depicted scenes from village life, urban neighbourhoods, and historical episodes, rendered with delicate linework and subdued yet radiant colour.

Raiba held his first major solo exhibition at the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi, in 1955. He went on to participate in numerous group and thematic shows, including Manifestations: 20th Century Indian Art and Navrasa: The Nine Emotions of Art, both organised by DAG (Delhi Art Gallery). His work was also shown internationally in exhibitions of contemporary Indian art during the 1950s and 1960s. Raiba’s works are part of several important public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi), and have been featured in major auctions and retrospectives. His art remains celebrated for its synthesis of traditional Indian forms and a deeply personal modernism rooted in memory, language, and place as a reflection of the soul of Bombay and the cultural richness of India’s visual traditions.

Academics

Miniature Painting at Sir JJ School of Art in 1942