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Academic appraisals of Pakistani art and architecture in the world have often suffered from colonially inspired biases and prejudices that have either attempted to discount the secular character of Indian art, or failed to fully appreciate it's most endearing qualities. Although the subcontinent has enjoyed a virtually uninterrupted history of developments in the realm of art and architecture, Pakistan has been either studiously ignored in compilations of "world" art - or it has been represented by a very small and limited number of examples
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In the early post 1947 decades, the artists in Pakistan adopted Modernism not as perpetuation of the First World domination but as a metaphor for change and economic freedom. The society was no longer being viewed in stereotypes or idealized images, but as an evolving nation faced with the challenges of transition.
In 1947 Lahore boasted of two art institutions and an expanding artists’ community. Karachi had very little post-Partition art activity, which expanded and became enriched by the arrival of pioneering talent in the migration of displaced people from all over the sub-continent.
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In the early 1950s The Lahore Group started experimenting in the Modern idiom and had a seminal influence on contemporary Pakistani art. Ahmed Parvez, Shemza, Ali Imam, Moyene Najmi, Sheikh Safder and Qutub Sheikh were members of this informal group and like the Progressive group of Artists, were also inspired by the Paris School. These painters looked upon the new aesthetics of Modern Art as a manifestation of a technological and industrial progress leading to economic freedom, as it had brought to the west. Modern Art also seemed to be the chosen visual language that was compatible with the national poet Iqbal’s philosophy of ‘khudi’ or ego as a dynamo that would propel man towards personal success. In this environment traditional art seemed inadequate to articulate the dreams and fears of a generation poised to enter a new era of freedom.
Those educated in the English medium schools with greater exposure to global changes, readily adopted the western idiom and recognized it as a vehicle of progress. The majority, who were unread or received their education in the traditional medium or ‘madrasas’ developed a suspicion of western values and regarded them as signs of the colonial heritage and opposed to the spirit of Islam. Their path to progress lay through a revival of indigenous socio-political values.
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The art that emerged from the studios of the Modernists, because of its economically advantaged status, came to dominate the national art scene by the 1960s. The art of the East Pakistani [now Bangladesh] painters had a tremendous impact on their counterparts in Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Peshawar, who had yet to reach that mature understanding of the discipline. Artists such as Zainul Abedin had already bridged the gulf between folk art and contemporary art.
Mansur Rahi, a student of Zainul Abedin, became one of the pioneer teachers at Karachi School of Art where his pedagogic influence on the young watercolorists heralded an aquarelle revival in the 1980s. Rahi became a faithful exponent of analytical cubism and developed his oeuvre under the influence of this style.
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The Lahore Art Group was committed to modern art but before it could become a cohesive movement its activities were disrupted by political interference. After a gap, when they returned to mainstream art activity, their will had been blunted and the spirit lost.
The 60s also saw the American cultural impact on Pakistani urban centres. Films and publications were freely shown and distributed, and media were used to promote United States’ first art movement – Abstract Expressionism. Through visiting exhibitions and art historians, Pakistani artists received considerable exposure to abstract styles from America
Zubeida Agha
Zubeida Agha enjoys the distinction of the first artist to hold a solo Modern Art exhibition in Pakistan. Held in Karachi in 1949, it kicked up a storm of controversy with its radical interpretation of perspective and space. A student of Sanyal and Mario Perlingieri, an Italian prisoner of war, Agha was initially drawn to Surrealism. Her later education took place at St. Martin’s School of Art. On her return she settled in Rawalpindi, away from the art centres of Lahore and Karachi. Here she continued to paint and support the arts by setting up and running Contemporary Arts gallery. Her personal style of painting alluded to child-like simplicity of form and a preference for pure bright hues in the 1950s. Gradually her imagery became non-figurative with colours and forms evocative of emotions and moods.
Ali Imam
Among the Lahore Artists Group, Ali Imam became an important art educationist in Karachi. He was the architect of the modern curriculum of The Central Institute of Arts and Crafts. In the 1970s he founded the Indus gallery, to create a buyer’s culture in the city where his student and peers could sell art and make it a viable career. With all these preoccupations Ali Imam’s painting career took a back seat. Although he seldom paints, his work remains in great demand. His technique transforms a realistic form into an impressionistic image. Treated with outer layers of white pigment, an even tone of subdued colours defines the costumes and features. He prefers to paint groups of bulky humans in stiff postures.
Anwar Jalal Shemza
A 1947 graduate of the Mayo School of Art, Anwar Jalal Shemza was also among the pioneer modernists. He settled in England but continued to hold regular exhibitions in Pakistan. Geometric patterns entwined with forms inspired from Arabic calligraphy in vibrant colours dominated his later work.
Sadequain
A rare visionary, Sadequain was able to bridge the gulf between the disparate groups in society. At the age of 31 his work won recognition at the 1961 Paris Biennial. Sadequain had a prolific career and much of his work is displayed in public places. Like Diego Rivera, he celebrated the role of the proletariat. His early mural, based on the dignity of labour is housed in the Mangla dam, near Islamabad. Later he painted a mammoth ceiling for The Lahore Museum based on poet Iqbal’s verses evoking the spirit of man to triumph over odds. While working on his second ceiling at the Freer Hall in Karachi, the painter took ill and died leaving the work incomplete. During his life Sadequain became a cult figure with a large following from all walks of life.
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Elongated human forms with bleeding pen-like fingers and nest-shaped head were central to his imagery. In the 70s he got nation-wide fame for his rendering of Quranic verses. Sadequain was one of the few artists who continuously received State support and was equally admired by the people. The very work that gave him a large following did not get critical acclaim. Despite the divided opinion, his influential position in art history cannot be denied. He came from a long line of master calligraphers and was perhaps ideally suited to bridge the gap between modernity and tradition. The content of his work has wider appeal, the early works addressed social evils and in the later decades Sadequain used the unifying spirit of calligraphy to appeal to the masses, who came in large numbers to see his exhibitions.
Shakir Ali
Shakir Ali held sway over the Pakistani modernists for two decades, both with his work and his disposition. He was among the privileged few of his generation of painters who had firsthand experience of Modern Art in Paris. After studying art at J.J. School of Art, he attended Slade School in London, then worked in Paris with Andre L’Hote before he went to Prague. Shakir Ali began with a cubist preference and many of his themes borrowed from classical European myths like ‘Europa and the Bull’ and ‘Leda and the Swan’.
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As his style evolved, he pared down the human form to sharp angles and took up red as a dominant colour. Many of his paintings feature birds, which he looked upon as the symbol of personal freedom in a world of conventions. He did some pioneering work in Arabic calligraphy in the 60s, in which the alphabetic form is used as a linear design using colour and visual rhythm to lend it a modern interpretation.
Bashir Mirza
Bashir Mirza, a student of Shakir Ali, made a name with his pen and ink series of portraits of the common folk of Pakistan. He was also responsible for setting up the first private gallery in Karachi. His Lonely Girl series were completed and exhibited in the 70s and won him a permanent place in Pakistan’s art history.
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Bashir Mirza always treated drawing as a separate discipline which gave his painting and drawings a singular character. He became the only artist to turn into a diplomat when he was sent as a cultural attaché to Australia. Gifted with an intuitive sense of design and colour, central to his oeuvre is the female form with a colour field for a backdrop. At different periods of his career the style has varied. In the Lonely Girl, each smooth layer of colour blends into the other in gentle tones. In his Acrylic Series almost a textural violence takes place as bold expressionistic strokes clash and craft images.
Leila Shahzada
Primarily self-taught, Leila Shahzada’s oeuvre resonates with the surrealistic. Her Driftmood Series which introduced her as a serious talent were inspired by the shapes of driftwood found on the beaches of Karachi, which the painter’s inner vision had turned into flame like shapes.
Later as her interest in mysticism grew she appropriated images from ancient Indus valley and Taxila. Before her accidental death in 1986, Shahzada had been working on a series of mountain landscapes, which displayed a latent surreal quality.
Colin David
Op Art served as a visual device in Colin David’s paintings. The black and white background design with its linear optical illusion forms an ever-changing relationship with the form, which was either a nude or clothed figure. It is always the dynamic ‘patterned’ space rather than the form that holds the interest of the viewer. The nude became the painter’s forte and in later series it was set against verdant landscapes.
In the early post 1947 decades the artist adopted Modernism not as perpetuation of the First World hegemony but as a metaphor for change and economic freedom. In Pakistan the painters frequently borrowed classicised images of miniature paintings like Picasso did from Greek art and synthesized it with the grammar of modernism. Even if a European painter inspired them, it remained as a point of departure. The modernism that emerged in this region is not a derivative art but a stylistic adaptation used to articulate the experiences of a society in flux and in need for a dynamic expression.
Jamil Naqsh
Jamil Naqsh studied miniature at NCA but turned to modernism after his exposure to Shakir Ali’s early cubist paintings.
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Naqsh, a consummate draughtsman, began to paint nudes to which he added pigeons in subsequent years and this became the topic of his visual treatise. In the 70s his technique was redolent of pointillism, today he prefers to work with acrylics on paper with skilful washes creating images from multi-faceted planes.
Ahmed Parvez
Ahmed Parvez transferred his restless energy on the canvas with a burst of colour and exploding forms. His early figurative art turned abstract during the decade he spent in England from 1955 to 1964. There he became inspired by Alan Davie but developed his own distinct style. His exhibitions were well received in London. On the occasion of his show of abstract miniatures, the critic for The Guardian wrote, "The mood is near Klee as it is to the jewelled ambience of an eastern potentate".
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Ahmed Parvez influenced the Karachi art scene in the 1970s both with his personality and art. An uncompromising professional, he was a spiritual mentor to the younger generation and a fierce critic of his peers. His volatile, impatient nature brought him tragedy in personal life, which drove him to ill health and an early death. Ahmed Parvez continued to paint till the end and has left behind a large body of work. In 1978, a year before his death, he was recognised as one of the country’s outstanding artists and awarded the Pride of Performance.
Guljee
It was his exposure to Action painting that motivated Guljee to turn to gestural painting. Over the years he incorporated Arabic calligraphy and textured his works with gold leaf and lapis. His latest most prestigious commission was for the Shah Faisal Mosque in Islamabad.
click above Gulgee speaks about the creative process and his own work as an artist’s tribute to God in a lecture held at AKU auditorium
It was the first generation, taught by the pioneer modernists that initiated a break from the straitjacket of formalism to deal with the reality of their lived experiences. The society was no longer being viewed in stereotypes or idealised images, but as an evolving nation faced with the challenges of transition, from a colony to a democracy.
Originally posted by ghuLail:
just a lil thing.
yeh 2004 tak ki history nahee hay, whatever yr source site may say.
art history didnt stop with the self-glorifying gulgee.
Really beautiful and informative article I always thought Pakistan only has art institutes we don’t really produce quality artists. Not being into modern arts (it’s not clear enough for me) I’m amazed to see that Sadeqain with this type of work has been supported.
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Good stuff BiB. Some really wonderful stuff. I think it would be good now that Pakistan is 57 years old to also showcase the art that was in the region and what are remnants of it. i.e. Buddhist, Hindu, etc. There is so much to be proud of one's past.
Guljee
It was his exposure to Action painting that motivated Guljee to turn to gestural painting. Over the years he incorporated Arabic calligraphy and textured his works with gold leaf and lapis. His latest most prestigious commission was for the Shah Faisal Mosque in Islamabad.
click above Gulgee speaks about the creative process and his own work as an artist’s tribute to God in a lecture held at AKU auditorium
It was the first generation, taught by the pioneer modernists that initiated a break from the straitjacket of formalism to deal with the reality of their lived experiences. The society was no longer being viewed in stereotypes or idealised images, but as an evolving nation faced with the challenges of transition, from a colony to a democracy.
Hi BiB,
great thread and great posts!
this picture of the AKU lecture from last year...were you there? did you attend it? where did you find the picture? could you possibly have access to more from that day? i attended that lecture and was seated in one of the first few rows, right behind Mrs Gulgee and Amin, but cant find myself in this picture, if you have more could you please post them or PM?
thanks!
Hi BiB,
great thread and great posts!
this picture of the AKU lecture from last year...were you there? did you attend it? where did you find the picture? could you possibly have access to more from that day? i attended that lecture and was seated in one of the first few rows, right behind Mrs Gulgee and Amin, but cant find myself in this picture, if you have more could you please post them or PM?
thanks!
i actually got them of some web site.. ill try to find it again for u .. no worries
I always thought Pakistan only has art institutes we don’t really produce quality artists. Not being into modern arts (it’s not clear enough for me) I’m amazed to see that Sadeqain with this type of work has been supported. 
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