Contemporary Miniature Painting in Lahore 1980 – 2007
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Contemporary Miniature Painting in Lahore 1980 – 2007 Vol–I Text Submitted for a Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Fine Arts by Rukhsana David Lahore College for Women University Lahore Summary Lahore has witnessed a dramatic evolution in the art of miniature painting since the 1990s. Many young artists, mainly graduates of the National College of Arts, formerly Mayo School of Arts, are to be credited with this revival. The revival starts with the teaching of miniature painting as an optional subject at the Mayo School of Arts by the two ustads who were descendants of Mughal court painters, to its establishment as a degree course in the National College of Arts in 1982 and the subsequent work produced by its graduates. The work of these prolific modern miniaturists is becoming widely known and many art galleries and curators readily showcase their work at home and abroad. There are reviews which are mostly centered on these exhibitions and interviews that cover individual artists and their works. However there is no comprehensive survey of the background study and a chronological survey of the works done by the contemporary miniature painters. My research attempts to fill this lacuna in order to make it easy for scholars and students to trace the antecedents of this movement and its artists in order to provide a base for future study on the subject. What is attempted in this study is a systematic description of the movement, its origins and its final maturation. Interviews of selected artists have been taken and compiled with biographical details and analysis of their work, images of their work are provided by 185 illustrations. Sources of this research are books on history of miniature painting, folios from the archives of the National College of Arts, personal interviews conducted with artists, visits to contemporary miniature exhibitions, catalogues and reviews of these exhibitions and web sites of these artists. A number of earlier and unpublished works of these artists are made available here for the first time. The first part of the thesis is largely committed to a concise history of the traditional schools of miniature painting that provide an essential basis for the study of contemporary miniature painting in its larger context. Only those schools have been dealt with that provide a source of inspiration in terms of concepts or visual vocabulary. This is followed by delineating areas of contemporary borrowing from these sources. The history of modern miniature painting gives an account of the revival of miniature painting in Lahore in the twentieth century. It briefly outlines the events that lead to it reemergence in 1945 and its contemporary revival fifty years later. A concise account o its pedagogical evolution and its establishment as a major area of specialization under th Fine Arts Department at the National College of Arts in 1982 adds the integral framework in which the modern miniature has progressed. A descriptive essay on the techniques of traditional and contemporary miniature painting is included to provide the necessary information for understanding the medium of this art work. Personal interviews conducted with miniature artists provides a comprehensive profile on each artist with details of their paintings, career and observations made by the painters themselves and the author. One section includes interviews of painters whose work is mostly traditional with essays on the two aging ustads who taught miniature painting in the years between 1945 and 1980 at the National College of Arts and have since passed away. The second section comprises of interviews conducted with modern contemporary miniaturists. Biographical and analytical notes with images of their work have been provided. The number of painters has been restricted to eight as only those artists who have painted for at least five years have been included. Finally my conclusion to the thesis recaps the elements that made it possible for an art form which was considered passé at the end of the nineteenth century to become the most favored art marking technique of third generation artists of Pakistan. I stress that this remarkable revival of miniature painting is a logical evolution of the arts that flourished in Lahore for almost five centuries and which we should acknowledge as the Lahori School of Arts as it is with those grand traditions of the past that this new practice has evolved. v Acknowledgements I wish to thank my supervisor, Dr. Musarrat Hassan for her invaluable support, guidance and constant reassurance that she extended to me during my research and its compilation, without which I would not have attempted an undertaking of this magnitude. My deep gratitude for Dr. Jean-Marie Lafont, my brother-in-law. I have learnt and benefited greatly not only from discussions with him on subjects from archaeology to history of miniature paintings to the French involvement in the history of Central Asia, Afghanistan and the subcontinent, but also from the use of his library. I would like to thank all the artists I have interviewed, some of whom have been students of my husband, Colin David, himself a former professor at the National College of Arts. I have been fortunate to be in a position where I personally know most of th artists and have followed their artistic careers over the years. Their cooperation in makin themselves available for interviews and extending utmost cooperation in providing data and images of their work is commendable. I am also grateful to Bashir Ahmed, Imran Qureshi, Aisha Khalid, Waseem Ahmed and Hasnat Mehmood as I am to Nusra Latif, for her prompt replies from Australia and making archival material of her work available to me via e-mail and courier. With my own inability to travel, for personal and professional reasons, interviewing some artists living in the United States was marred by delays of unanswered mails in which case I had to use secondary sources to fill in the lacunas. Last but not the least I wish to thank my family, Colin and Karen for their patience and support, Rehana, Jean Marie and my brothers for giving me the courage to go on. vi CONTENTS Summary.......................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................... v Contents ...................................................................................................... vi List of illustrations......................................................................................vii Chapter 1 The Heritage of Miniature Painting ......................................................... 1 Chapter 2 History of Modern Miniature ................................................................. 30 Chapter 3 Making of a Miniature: The Technique ................................................ 42 Chapter 4 Contemporary Traditional Painters Ustad Haji Sharif ............................................................. 59 Ustad Sheikh Shujaullah ................................................. 68 Shakeel Ahmed ................................................................ 72 Bashir Ahmed .................................................................. 77 Khalid Saeed Butt ............................................................ 88 Chapter 5 Contemporary Modern Painters Shazia Sikander................................................................ 97 Imran Qureshi ................................................................ 113 Nusra Latif ..................................................................... 127 Aisha Khalid .................................................................. 136 Saira Waseem ................................................................ 149 Talha Rathore ................................................................ 160 Waseem Ahmed ............................................................. 165 Hasnat Mehmood .......................................................... 177 The third generation of miniature painters .................... 184 Conclusion 189 Bibliography 195 vii List of illustrations Fig. 1 Fig. 11 Nusra Latif Imran Qureshi. Holy Alliances .2004. Easy Cutting. 2004 Gouache, acrylic and paper on illustration board. Gouache on wasli. 20x26cms. 32.8x45cms Ownership unknown Ownership unknown Fig. 12 Fig. 2 Shazia Sikander. Jahangir holding the Orb. Circa 1635 Phenomenology I. 2000 Signed Bichitr Vegetable color, dry pigment and watercolor on wasli A page from the Minto Album Chester Beatty 10x7.5ins. Library,Dublin Ownership unknown Fig. 3 Fig. 13 Nusra Latif Imran Qureshi. Red Bird Narratives -1.2005 The Game of Tenses. 2002. Gouache, acrylic and gold leaf on wasli. Opaque watercolor and Letraset transfer on wasli. 28x21cms. 26x34cms. Ownership unknown Ownership unknown Fig. 4 Fig. 14 Prince Khurram circa 1616-1617 Two Vultures c 161 5-1620 Signed Abu’l Hasan A page from the Kevorkian Album A page from the Minto Album Signed Mansur Victoria and Albert Museum, London Fig. 15 Fig. 5 Muhammad Zeeshan Saira Waseem. Beyond Appearances 1 2006 Padshahnama I. 1999. Opaque watercolor on wasli. 28.5x14.5cms. Gouache and gold on tea stained wasli. 14x22cms. Ownership unknown Collection Asia Society. Fig. 6 Fig. 16 Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Sheikh to Kings, circa1615- Muhammad Zeeshan 1618. Detail from Beyond Appearances 2 2006 Signed Bichitr. Opaque watercolor on wasli. 28.5x14.5cms. Petersburg Album. Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Ownership unknown institute,