Posted on: 2 October 2015

Untitled (Radha and Krishna)
By Abdur Rahman Chughtai (Pakistan, 1897-1975)

Watercolour on paper
Signed in Urdu lower left, stamped on reverse

Although given the accolade of the national artist of Pakistan, Abdur Rahman Chughtai, created works of a shared national identity more reflective of a unified pre-partition India. Chughtai painted scenes encompassing both Hindu and Muslim oral traditions and folklore. As Naqvi notes, Chughtai explains his reason for this in an essay written after 1947:
'...he held on to the view that an artist is above prejudice and that he must pay homage to a culture and tradition which is inclusive and hence universal.'
(Akbar Naqvi, Image and Identity: Fifty years of Painting and Sculpture in Pakistan, Karachi, 1998, p. 54)

Hailing from a lineage of artisans and craftsmen, Chughtai used only the finest materials for his work, and so with each drawing or painting he created a leaf of quality and importance - a homage to the Mughal and Persian miniature traditions he was so heavily influenced by.

The poetic portrayal of Radha and Krishna's unity is archetypal of Chughtai's style. He creates a symbiosis between the characters. Radha's body leans on Krishna's inner thigh, her feet rest over his as they interlock hands. Chughtai's highly trained techniques create a scene of gossamer delicacy.

Image and text credit: Bonhams


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Vinay Joshi

Vishnujana Dasa

one of my fav artist.

Awesome

in the same league as Abanindranath Thakur ( Tagore)....superb

Learnt Art at Mayo under Samarendranath Gupta pupil of Abani Thakur, admired by all, designed many of Pakistan stamps and Logo of Pak TV

Lady with Lamp by Chugtai

Abdur Rahman Chugtai (b 1897) was in fact an Indian artist in true tradition. He was 50 when India was divided in 1947. He spent rest of 28 years in newly created Pakistan (till 1975). Chugtai's style is rooted in Bengali School. Chughtai studied painting at the Mayo School of Art in Lahore in 1911. His teacher was Samarendranath Gupta, himself a student of Abanindranath Tagore. The artist Abanindranath Tagore (1871 - 1951) was the pioneer and leading exponent of the Bengal School of Art which flourished between 1905 and 1920. In his paintings, he sought to counter the influence of Western art as taught in art schools under the British Raj, by modernizing indigenous Moghul and Rajput traditions. His work became so influential that it was eventually accepted and regarded as a national Indian style.

Yes this work immediately brought to mind the Bengal School

Sublime!

superb

Before partition artists were more secular and liberal in India

Are there any famous non-muslim artists in Pakistan today? Would seriously like to know.

Alice Lin

Mahrukh Arif

Ismail Gulgee – The Gulgeez (25 October 1926 – 16 December 2007[1]) Pride of Performance, Sitara-e-Imtiaz (twice), Hilal-e-Imtiaz, was an award-winning, globally famous Pakistani artist born in Peshawar. He was a qualified engineer in the US and self-taught abstract painter and portrait painter. Before 1959, as portraitist, he painted the entire Afghan Royal Family. From about 1960 on, he was noted as an abstract painter influenced by the tradition of Islamic calligraphy and by the American "action painting" idiom.

I am proud to have a print of this painting.

Nadir, avez-vous déjà consacré un album à cet artiste?

looks like a BJ in progress

Exceptional!

We should revive the spirit of liberalism, secularism and humanity which is the only tradition of our Indian Sub-Continent.

Ismail Gulgee (October 25, 1926 – December 14, 2007) Pride of Performance, Sitara-e-Imtiaz (twice), Hilal-e-Imtiaz, was an award-winning, globally famous Pakistani artist born in Peshawar. He was a qualified engineer in the U.S. and self-taught abstract painter and portrait painter. Before 1959, as portraitist, he painted the entire Afghan Royal Family, - - Ahmed Pervez Ahmed Parvez was a modernist painter from Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He was a member of The Lahore Group in Pakistan and founder of the Pakistan Group in London. He was also among the few early modernists of Pakistani origin to have garnered considerable critical acclaim, with solo exhibitions at the New Vision, Lincoln, and Clement Stephens galleries in London, along with exhibitions at London's Commonwealth Institute and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford between 1952-64.- Many others emigrated ,

Amazing...

Beautiful..

दीन दुःखी पर दया करे जो, श्याम का खासम ख़ास है वो.. लपक के उसको गले लगाता, श्याम के दिल के पास है वो.. स्नेह वंदन जय श्री श्याम.. आपका दिन शुभ एवं मंगलमय हो..