Two of the greatest Indian painters, Akbar Padamsee and SH Raza, started their journey into the world of art at about the same time.
What’s more, Akbar and Raza’s friendship dates back to the inception of the Progressive Artists’ Group, which was formed way back in 1947. Akbar says, “I am younger than Raza. When senior artists like Raza, FN Souza and MF Husain used to hold their Progressive Artists Group exhibitions, I used to make the list of all the paintings displayed, make cyclostyles (that’s a primitive way to make copies of documents during those times) of it and distribute it.”
Akbar then goes on to narrate another interesting anecdote of their friendship during one of the exhibitions of the Progressive Art Group (this probably happened between 1950 to 1956).
Akbar says, “During one of the exhibitions, Raza priced one his painting at Rs 300 and Husain priced his painting at Rs 200. The fact that Raza had priced his painting higher than that of Husain upset Husain a little. So, Husain made a comment that a price tag of Rs 300 was too high a price for paintings which are hardly sold. And, of course, Raza didn’t like the comment (Imagine the jhagra when the canvasses of the same artists are being sold for crores now!). However, things were sorted out later,” laughs Akbar.
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