Lot Essay
According to art historian Salima Hashmi, MudassAr Manzoor "explores the influence of Sufi thought on the visual image. Solitary figures are lost in contemplation, disengaged from the world, yet very much part of its alluring beauty. [...] Manzoor understands how to intertwine delicacy of thought with image. He moulds demonstrable skills and presses them into the service of a personal narrative. There is allegiance to both austerity and splendour. But the over-riding formal concern is to bring to each work a feeling of aesthetic closure." (S. Hashmi, From Lahore to Montmartre: Miniatures Contemporaines du Pakistan, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 2007, p. 5)