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Pakistan: A Tradition of Modernity
Partition of the Indian Subcontinent after Independence in 1947 divided the former British colony into two countries and three distinct new political terrains. From a common well of culture, both new countries fostered art movements that were uniquely indigenous and yet in dialogue with each other and the world at large. Established artists pre-Partition, such as academic painter, Allah Bux, or Abdur Rahman Chughtai and Zainul Abedin, (schooled in the Bengal Style and influenced by the Tagores) are today much admired and indeed claimed into the artistic pantheons across the borders of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Modernism in Pakistan manifested itself in the art of Ahmed Parvez (Lot 73) and Ismail Gulgee (Lot 74 and 75) amongst many others. These artists either lived or travelled in Europe and absorbed innovative styles of Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, Post-Impressionism and combined these with classical Islamic artistic tradition through both calligraphy or the arts of the manuscript page. Cultural histories, in the context of identity and newly formed political boundaries, are rife with paradoxes and concepts to be mined, re-claimed and re-contextualised. Zahoor ul Akhlaq, seen today as the father of contemporary art in Pakistan, revolutionised the practice of miniature painting. His influence spreads far and wide not only through the development of the now renowned Neo-Miniature movement (lots 25, 75 and 76) that includes Shahzia Sikander, Aisha Khalid and Imran Qureshi amongst many others but also through a parallel conceptual art practice that has fostered the careers of Rashid Rana (lot 77) and Mohammad Ali Talpur (lot 76).
Rashid Rana famously titled one of his works, What is so Pakistani about this Painting? (2000), This playfully pertinent and sardonically sharp question cuts to the heart of the identity of this country that is a 20th century construct yet with a culture boasting centuries of tradition. It is in a continuous state of flux as Pakistan traverses East and West, tradition and modernity, and the local versus global dialectic, where the dynamism within the art scene continues to evolve and shows its greatest promise.
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF MARK NASH
AHMED PARVEZ (1926-1979)
Untitled
Details
AHMED PARVEZ (1926-1979)
Untitled
signed and dated as illustrated
mixed media on paper
12 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (32.7 x 20 cm.); 16 x 21¼ in. (40.6 x 53.9 cm.); 18¼ x 12½ in. (46.3 x 31.7 cm.); 17¾ x 12½ in. (45 x 31.7 cm.); 21¼ x 16 in. (53.9 x 40.6 cm.); 17 5/8 x 12 5/8 in (44.7 x 32 cm.)
(6)Executed in 1962; six works on paper
6
Untitled
signed and dated as illustrated
mixed media on paper
12 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (32.7 x 20 cm.); 16 x 21¼ in. (40.6 x 53.9 cm.); 18¼ x 12½ in. (46.3 x 31.7 cm.); 17¾ x 12½ in. (45 x 31.7 cm.); 21¼ x 16 in. (53.9 x 40.6 cm.); 17 5/8 x 12 5/8 in (44.7 x 32 cm.)
(6)Executed in 1962; six works on paper
6
Brought to you by
Damian Vesey
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