SYED HAIDER RAZA (B. 1922)

During the 1960s, Raza's style painting style shifted from an impressionistic brushstroke to a more fluid expressionism following his visiting professorship at the University of California, Berkeley. The defined depictions of the French and Indian countryside became more fractured and abstracted as Raza experimented with a new mood-evoking style and palette. L'Arbre du Mal, while not entirely representational, maintains strong Indian connotations in its palette with a composition influenced by the Rajasthani miniatures in the artist's personal collection. The highly textured work evokes the lush forests and landscapes surrounding Raza's boyhood villages in Madhya Pradesh.