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S. H. Raza (left) and Ashok Vajpeyi in a leaf from the book ‘Celebration & Prayer: Life and Light in Raza’s Art’, written by the latter\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Sayed Haider Raza, one of India\u2019s biggest blue chip artists, passed away on July 23, 2016, in New Delhi, a city that he had made home for the last five-and-a-half years of his life. Even though brief, his stay in Delhi was a fortunate turn of events for the art fraternity of the city as it gave them the opportunity to see him in person, and even interact with one of India\u2019s greatest artists. The one constant presence in the life of the artist in those days was that of Ashok Vajpeyi, a cultural figure of India like no other, who chooses to stay low profile but can\u2019t help being thrust into limelight wherever he goes. Even then, Vajpeyi, a long-time friend of Raza, would studiously stay in the background, deliberately choosing to disappear into the shadow of the towering personality.<\/p>\n Vajpeyi not only has continued to helm the Raza Foundation with great aplomb since Raza\u2019s passing, but given his immense experience and expertise in the matter of running cultural institutions\u2014he was the force behind the creation of Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal in the early 1980s and was the first bureaucrat of India to helm an independent culture ministry anywhere in the country\u2014he has made it the most active foundation in the city\u2019s cultural calendar. His association with Raza dates back to those heady times in Madhya Pradesh in the late 1970s, when the germ of Bharat Bhavan was being laid.<\/p>\n[vc_single_image image=”2588″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”] So, when Vajpeyi pens a book on Raza, it becomes worth a read. He has written extensively on Raza over the years, including newspaper articles and books, but each new writing brings a new layer of understanding about the artist, from someone who knew him better than anyone else.<\/p>\n The latest book by Vajpeyi on Raza is titled Celebration & Prayer: Life and Light in Raza\u2019s Art<\/em>. It is published by Speaking Tiger and is priced at Rs 599.<\/p>\n What makes it stand out in the plethora of literature on Raza all around is the personal touch that the author is able to bring; Vajpeyi became a companion of Raza more than five decades ago and played a seminal role in every new step that Raza took. This included giving back to the state that he came from, which is Madhya Pradesh, through regular programming in his home town of Mandla. The programming continues to this day, nearly a decade since Raza\u2019s passing.<\/p>\n The book is interestingly divided into chapters that give new entry points into the well-documented life of S. H. Raza. The chapters are: Knowing Raza; Time, Colour, Memory: A Few Fragments; Seeing Raza; Listening to Raza; and Going Home. As the titles suggest, these chapters offer a lucid, personal gateway into knowing the man behind one of India\u2019s most important signatures in the world of art.<\/p>\n Vajpeyi has always worn his role as one of India\u2019s most successful arts administrator rather lightly; it is his identity as a poet and author that he takes more evident pride in. This helps the reader as the book becomes a calm flowing river on which one courses along effortlessly, discovering Raza like never before.<\/p>\n Book: Celebration & Prayer: Life and Light in Raza\u2019s Art<\/p>\n Author: Ashok Vajpeyi<\/p>\n Publisher: Speaking Tiger<\/p>\n Price: Rs 599<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>[vc_single_image image=”2587″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bengaluru-based Ravi Kashi squeezes paper out of a tube to create iconic works<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-2584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2584"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2598,"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2584\/revisions\/2598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Nobody can claim to have known Raza better than Ashok Vajpeyi, which is what makes this book worth a good read<\/h3>\n