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拍品專文
Abdur Rahman Chughtai remains one of the most acclaimed and revered Pakistani artists of the Twentieth Century. The artist began his training at the Mayo School of Art, Lahore in 1911, where he was taught by Samarendranath Gupta, who was a pupil of Abanindranath Tagore. He would later become part of the Mayo faculty in 1916, when he was appointed head of photolithography. The influence of the Bengal School is visible in Chughtai’s early work, but what distinguishes the artist is his skill as a draughtsman. This skill also allowed him to become one of the most successful printmakers in the region. Lots 720-722 are a testament to his skill and illuminate how this led to the global dissemination of his works. By 1928, Chughtai had started his own printing press.
However, Chughtai’s masterworks are his paintings which extol all the influences he had developed. The delicate flowing lines and gem like tones in Untitled (Lady with Bird) owe much to Pahari, Mughal and Rajput miniature paintings, which the artist collected fervently as early as the 1920s. In this painting, an anonymous woman stands in front of Mughal architecture, an influence which perhaps comes from Chughtai’ s early apprenticeship with Miran Baksh at the Wazir Khan Mosque. While often famed for his poetic metaphors and portraits of famous personalities from Islamic history, Chughtai also championed the poor and downtrodden, elevating them to heroic and stoic figures of beauty and pride in his paintings.
Jamsheed Kaikobad Ardeshir Marker and his wife Arnaz acquired this work in Karachi in the 1960s when Chughtai was at the peak of his career. A renowned Pakistani diplomat, Marker was the nation’s top envoy to the United States, proving a key figure in their relationship for several administrations, and working particularly closely with Ronald Reagan. Jamsheed Marker also represented Pakistan in over fifteen countries, including Ghana, Romania, the Soviet Union, Canada, East Germany, West Germany and Japan, in a career spanning more than three decades, earning him the peerless distinction of the world's longest-serving ambassador and ambassador to more countries than any other person before retiring in 2007.
Marker was a patron and friend of many Pakistani artists from the 1950s. During the course of his lengthy diplomatic career he continued to promote Pakistani art. Whilst ambassador to France, he brought back paint and other supplies for Sadequain for the work on the ceiling of Frere Hall, and during his tenure as ambassador to the United Nations, he arranged an exhibition for Gulgee at the mission in New York. The Jamsheed Marker collection includes works by Chughtai, Jamini Roy, Jamil Naqsh and several others. Most of these paintings were bought directly from the artists or from friends of the artists with others acquired at exhibitions in respected galleries in Karachi in the 1950s and 1960s. Much of his collection traveled with him to embassies around the world; other pieces remained in family homes in Karachi and the United States. The present painting has hung in the Marker family’s apartment in New York since the 1970s.
However, Chughtai’s masterworks are his paintings which extol all the influences he had developed. The delicate flowing lines and gem like tones in Untitled (Lady with Bird) owe much to Pahari, Mughal and Rajput miniature paintings, which the artist collected fervently as early as the 1920s. In this painting, an anonymous woman stands in front of Mughal architecture, an influence which perhaps comes from Chughtai’ s early apprenticeship with Miran Baksh at the Wazir Khan Mosque. While often famed for his poetic metaphors and portraits of famous personalities from Islamic history, Chughtai also championed the poor and downtrodden, elevating them to heroic and stoic figures of beauty and pride in his paintings.
Jamsheed Kaikobad Ardeshir Marker and his wife Arnaz acquired this work in Karachi in the 1960s when Chughtai was at the peak of his career. A renowned Pakistani diplomat, Marker was the nation’s top envoy to the United States, proving a key figure in their relationship for several administrations, and working particularly closely with Ronald Reagan. Jamsheed Marker also represented Pakistan in over fifteen countries, including Ghana, Romania, the Soviet Union, Canada, East Germany, West Germany and Japan, in a career spanning more than three decades, earning him the peerless distinction of the world's longest-serving ambassador and ambassador to more countries than any other person before retiring in 2007.
Marker was a patron and friend of many Pakistani artists from the 1950s. During the course of his lengthy diplomatic career he continued to promote Pakistani art. Whilst ambassador to France, he brought back paint and other supplies for Sadequain for the work on the ceiling of Frere Hall, and during his tenure as ambassador to the United Nations, he arranged an exhibition for Gulgee at the mission in New York. The Jamsheed Marker collection includes works by Chughtai, Jamini Roy, Jamil Naqsh and several others. Most of these paintings were bought directly from the artists or from friends of the artists with others acquired at exhibitions in respected galleries in Karachi in the 1950s and 1960s. Much of his collection traveled with him to embassies around the world; other pieces remained in family homes in Karachi and the United States. The present painting has hung in the Marker family’s apartment in New York since the 1970s.