Saif Uddin
Saif Uddin (Born in Jaipur, India July 25, 1982) is a contemporary Indian artist specializing in ancient and, notably, modern Mughal paintings, Kota school, Jaipur school and Bundi school painting styles as well as custom Indian Jewellery.
Life
Son of Aziz Uddin and Abeda Bagum, born 8th son of a family of three brothers and six sisters. He grew up in Jaipur understudied his brother Rafi Uddin a known artist of modern Mughal miniature paintings.[1]
Saif started at the age of nine and continues to paint albeit at a lower pace due to deteriorating eyesight. He worked 6 days a week 8 hours a day while at his brothers' service.
Saif painted over two hundred of these intensely time consuming works of art mostly under contract from his brother. Small Mughal paintings, 20x29cm typically, take up to three months to complete.
The artist left for London during the summer of 2003 in order to sell his as well as his brothers works. In 2005 he returned to India, his time in the United Kingdom achieved mixed results. Due to his deteriorating vision he temporarily abandoned painting and took up creating and selling jewellery.
He worked one month in London before returning home where his uncle taught him the gemstone business. He then sold jewellery in the Evergreen Guest House boutique in Jaipur. Located close to the biggest silver and stone market in Jaipur.
It was at this boutique that Saif met his wife Silke from Germany five month later they married in a traditional muslim civil ceremony in 2004. He still paints a wide variety of works to this day.
He followed his wife to Germany where he settled and opened a small Indian silver and handicraft store in which he continues his art.
Silke and Saif welcomed their daughter Samira in 2007.
Works
His favorite Mugal miniature was dedicated to his father shortly before his death he painted it in order to show his dying dad that he was in fact a better artist than his famous elder brother. The Mugal style painting was a stylized representation of a horse imbedded with a tangle of humans, tigers, lions, devils, dogs, camels, dragons and birds which took five months to complete.
Another painting he did under contract is a representation of a Mugal King, Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal. The King is mounted on a black and white horse holding a spear. The painting sold for 500 Euros, an astronomical amount for India, had the 15 year old artist realized the proceeds.
References
- ↑ Chitra, Die Tradition der Miniaturmalerei in Rajasthan by K.D. Christof & Renate Haass, 1999 (ISBN 978-3-89754-231-0)
Related links
http://saifuddinartist.blogspot.com/ Artists' Blog