This book on S. H. Raza is a great window into his life and art

livemint.com:

Is bindu par dhyaan do," he told Raza – focus on this spot. He did.

After some initial difficulty, Raza could focus on nothing else. Over 30 years after that, in 1980, the iconic modernist painter would begin to make the Bindu one of his most well-known preoccupations.

This account, is vividly and wonderfully recollected and referenced in ‘The Radiating Circle’, an essay by art historian Yashodhara Dalmia in the book Raza: The Other Modern, published by Mapin in collaboration with the Progressive Art Gallery and the Delhi-based Raza Foundation. In the same book, in another essay titled ‘Raza’s Search for Infinity’, cultural historian Geeti Sen notes how “Raza offers us no apologies for the repetition of the bindu, which explores, as it expands, the infinite possibilities of the universe." Published as a companion to an exhibit of the same name at the Progressive Art Gallery in Dubai, the book – rich with 103 paintings and sketches, 5 stunning photographs of the artist and three essays – is a treat.

In keeping with the aim of the exhibit which runs till 31 May this year, the book, too, traces the various stages and phases of his artistic journey. This includes mapping the evolution of his work through the periods of his training in the Nagpur School of Art, the JJ School of Art, and the École Nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts; and from his brush with expressionism in the early years right up to abstraction in the later stages of his career.