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Pakistan has inherited many things from the colonial rule when it became the sovereign state on August 14, 1947, as there was no developed source of knowledge and information apart from what the rulers adopted and then left for themselves.

The British took control of a state that was largely monarchical under the Mughals, but when they left it had to adopt the famous democratic system of politics; thrones, where emperors used to sit, held the governor general, presidents, and prime ministers for time to come. The military, social institutions, music, sports, haute couture, gastronomy, architecture and administration, in short, all walks of life absorbed and displayed a prolific plethora of post-colonial Western influence, since this doctrine was considered the best and most appropriate because of its association with the ruling and powerful class.

The language adopted the modern and non-traditional style due to a complete liberation from Persian and partially from Arabic; the two fundamental languages ​​that had remained a mark of distinction and wisdom for the Muslim community, from Neil to Kashghar. Modern Muslims, especially after being placed in the status of modern politics under the completely new and liberal policies of the Anglo-Indian Mohammedan Conference and the scholars of Aligarh College, which later became a university, were well aware of the new philosophy, psychology, architecture. , sciences and all other branches of literature and arts, this class took over after the birth of the new state of Pakistan on August 14, 1947. Therefore, what we introduced into Pakistani arts in common was mainly a inspiration from early 20th century western modern art; the fragments of post-modern American or post-war European art.

In the early days of Pakistan, Anna Molka Ahmed was in Lahore, a migrant artist from the UK who also cradled the first generation of Pakistani artists in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Punjab that she had founded in 1940. This department produced the first batch of four masters who later shaped the early years of Pakistani art; they were Anwar Afzal, Zakia Malik Sheikh, Razzia Feroz and Nasim Hafeez Qazi.

On the other hand, there was Zubeda Agha, who was trained under BS Saniyal and an Italian POW Mario Perlingieri. Later, she received art education in the west, so she was under immense influence of western style and technique. Zubeda rejected the traditional painting style and emerged as the first modernist colorist despite resistance from native critics.

At the same time, Anna Molka was trying to capture the indigenous themes related to religion and folklore, but as she was expressionist in her technique, the local fauna and flora came on after expressing themselves through the ‘knife and trowel’ technique of his . Anna would sometimes simply press the tube of color into the canvas and drag it with her knife to get the desired spontaneity and embossed texture. So what she produced was indigenous in subject matter but very western in terms of technique.

Since the native style was attributed to the Mughal school of miniature painting which later gained popularity in the hill states of Himachal Pardesh (Basohli, Chamba, Guler, Kangra and Bilaspur) until the Sikh era. Ustad Haji Sharif was one of the exponents of court painting due to his ancestors’ long association with the royal court of Patiala, an important Sikh state in now Indian Punjab. After his migration to Lahore, Ustad Sharif imparted his knowledge and passed on the latest lighting and book illustration skills at the Department of Fine Arts and Mayo School of Arts (NCA) Lahore.

Another Ustad, Allah Bakhsh, along the lines of the traditional and realistic style of the East, contributed to the infancy of Pakistani painting. Allah Bakhsh painted the rich culture and folklore along with a touch of romanticism in the subject, especially when he put popular love stories like Heer Ranjha and Sohni Mahiwal on canvas and at the same time under the influence of modern art and painters. romantics. from the west, he will stage mystical canvases such as “Talism-i Hoshruba”.

During this process of evolution, the secular style of miniature painting breathed in Calcutta, where Abhiander Nath Taygore was a great defender of the gauche technique. This style inspired the fluid hand of Abd al-Rehman Chughtai, who evolved the Bengali style of miniature painting to unrivaled heights. Apart from Chughtai, no one was able to retain the standards of that quality of lyrical line, soft layers of diffuse pigments, and the stylized approach, although few attempted to familiarize themselves with the technique, but the wisdom and education that Chughtai acquired in the field. of local and foreign art, and the intelligentsia that surrounded him in the form of his renowned friends, made him the only example of a style of his own; Chughtai style.

Pakistan was later cast under the spell of a Sadequian magician: a painter with theatrical qualities, dramatic subjects, and a very raw quality of line that weaved texture within the frame to unleash the philosophical and poetic themes the artist drew from. a great moment. level. The need to communicate louder and clearer made Sadeqian switch to calligraphic painting, which later became his identity and was exhibited on large scales as the ceilings and murals at the Lahore Museum and Mangla Dam, respectively. Ismail Gulgee was the other advertiser of the calligraphic painting style which, being conceived as “Islamic art” as opposed to figurative art, became popular with religious groups. Ultimately, non-figurative art gained market acceptance and flourished under the unfavorable circumstances of the Islamic-military regime of the 1980s.

If we look at academic inspirations, apart from Anna Molka, we can find Shakir Ali standing tall and unique on the scene with his very simple and rhythmic paintings in flat shades of reds, oranges and blues along with varied lines. His textures within the flat color areas were simple but masterfully designed and cleverly balanced. His presence at the National College of Arts Lahore caused many to follow him in acquiring new and modern techniques that he had in his hands during his academic stay in London.

In western art, Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin are taken, later as initiators of cubism, expressionism and fauvism. On this pattern, we could divide Pakistani art into three dimensions, the followers of Chughtai, Sadeqauin and Shakir Ali. However, since the latter was the director and teacher of a renowned art institution, his impact was immense. Hence, we could see his followers in the form of Panj Piyare (the five dear ones), following the pattern of Akbar’s Navratna (Nine Jewels). These were Raheel Akbar Javed, Sheikh Safdar, AJ Shamza, Ali Imam and Moyenne Najmi. Another reason for this popularity was the style and themes that Shakir introduced to the new generation of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which were more practical and corporeal in execution, even in representing the most abstract and intangible ideas, while contrary to Chughtai’s Miniatures or Sadequain’s poetically themed canvases.

Pakistani institutes imparted education along Western lines, while the old masters of conventional native styles, for the most part, took their art to their graves, with a minor exception of a few of their students.

In calligraphy, Ahmed Pervez and AJ Shamza are the names that contributed to the collective form of Pakistani art based on their individual style, but some others made the difference to a greater extent. Khalid Iqbal is one of what could be called the master of landscape painting, with his local colors and western technique of creating enchanting foregrounds and depth in backgrounds by virtue of his control of hues formed through diffuse shadows. He introduced modern realism to Pakistan, forcing many to be inspired. Khalid’s presence, first in the Department of Fine Arts and later in the NCA, academically inspired a generation of artists under his fatherly attitude. The immersed but still soft canvases of it recorded the different shades of the Pakistani soil.

Saeed Akhtar, was another talented NCA graduate, a proficient draftsman who solved his drawing problems by adopting and applying the observations he found while molding sculptures; a way to become an expert in figurative painting and three-dimensional portraiture. Realistic and accurate acting became his mark of respect.

Zahoor al-Akhlaq, with his philosophical and abstract approach, strengthened the conceptual foundation of modern art in Pakistan and made NCA adopt modern styles and techniques in painting.

The University of Punjab produced Collin David, Anna Molka’s most talented and certainly controversial student for many reasons, but a wonderful cartoonist of divine linearity with whom he was blessed. His figurative work showed his anatomical expertise which allowed him to introduce Pakistani art in the style, with an exaggerated note, of Rubens and Raphael.

Zulqarnain Haider, began as an extension of Khalid Iqbal, adopting landscape painting in an almost similar style, but gradually the restless blood of Kashmir accepted new challenges that nature put before him in changes of light, mid-twigs and earth. stretched out; he captured them from their feet to the vanishing point on the horizon, or even beyond.

Ghulam Rasul added stylization in his Landscapes and enriched the colors of his paintings. He also used the small hills of the Potohar as a gray backdrop behind the lush green fields.

Contrary to the Modern Realism of Khalid Iqbal and company, Zubeda Javed emerges as a painter with a strong imagination. She is one of those rare painters from Pakistan, who embraced the modern technique of painting landscapes and cityscapes, in a way that many considered to be close to semi-abstract and impressionistic. She, with an intuitive color palette and painterly brush, produced a unique and aesthetically strong display of colour, emerging from deep backgrounds. Her painting style fostered the modern approach to color, composition, and light.

English literature inspired Mian Ijaz al-Hassan to think and act according to the new ideologies that were in vogue in the 1970s, his thematic and radical paintings based on communist doctrine disturbed deep sleep in high halls. However, he excavated the fragile soil of the Pakistani land with the ‘red scythe’ and sowed the seed of the yellow Laburnum (Amaltas) tree; a fundamental symbol of the paintings of him.

Iqbal Hussian shed light on the hot and rotten issues associated with an abode of notoriety; the red light zone. His urban landscapes can take you to the dark alleys and whispering walls of the old city, while his portraits of bulky, carefree-looking women make a social commentary on the unaccepted side of society.

On the other hand, Ghulam Mustafa created a labyrinth composed of the shady narrow paths of the walled city and the lush green mountains of the northern areas with their soft pastels on the textured surface of pastel sheets or the large well-stretched areas. of rough canvases with oil colours.

Bashir Ahmed started the Miniature Painting Department at NCA which inspired many young painters to adopt this conventional painting style. Bashir’s effort to restore the tradition of miniature painting resulted in the contemporary miniature that revolutionized this genre in Pakistan.

With torches in the hands of all those mentioned above, there were many others along with them, passing from the palette of Pakistan to the new generation of painters as they entered the 21st century.

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