New Delhi will host an exceptional exhibition titled A. A. Raiba: The Inner Contour, focusing on the artistic journey of Abdul Aziz Raiba (1922–2016), one of the pioneering modern Indian artists, organized by the NCR-based art gallery, Gallery Dotwalk. The exhibition preview is scheduled for November 1, 2025, starting at 6 PM at Travancore Palace, New Delhi, and will be open to the public from November 2 to 10, 2025, between 11 AM and 6 PM. Renowned art historian and curator R. Siva Kumar will act as the Curatorial Advisor.
This extensive exhibition features Raiba’s early paintings, a variety of drawings, experimental works, artist books, and archival photographs, illustrating his artistic evolution from his academic training at the esteemed Sir J. J. School of Art to his independent explorations influenced by transformative travels through Kashmir and beyond. Sreejith CN, Founder of Gallery Dotwalk, expressed, “We are privileged to showcase one of India’s most unique voices in modern art. This exhibition traces the development of Raiba’s visual language, highlighting the visual transitions and consistencies that characterized his career. Gallery Dotwalk is excited to present our recent acquisition of Raiba’s work, offering a visual delight for art enthusiasts.
This exhibition is not just a display of artworks; it serves as an introspective journey into Raiba’s inner world, showcasing his discipline, resilience, and extraordinary ability to convert material limitations into artistic strength. We believe his narrative will resonate profoundly with both experienced collectors and new audiences, reaffirming Raiba’s significance in the story of Indian modernism.” The exhibition contextualizes A.A. Raiba’s impact on Indian Modernism through a focused analysis of his distinctive use of line. The curatorial vision emphasizes contour as a crucial formal theme, where contour is typically seen as a mere boundary in traditional artistic practice.
However, this exhibition reveals Raiba’s use of sharp and lyrical lines in contours that act as a powerful philosophical and formal threshold, grounding subjective experience in visual representation. This contour, characterized by deliberate, often dark outlines, not only separates the figure from the background but also connects it to the broader cultural landscape of the subcontinent. Raiba’s work is marked by bold shapes and strong outlines, signifying a notable stylistic shift that represents his transition into a modern context, despite his early training in the fragile tradition of Indian miniature painting. His conscious departure from the Miniature technique through the adoption of bold forms and outlines established his artistic identity.
This curatorial approach aims to elevate Raiba from a secondary figure to a central character whose unique sensibility emerged through a rigorous, self-directed examination of form, material, and cultural language.