Zahoor ul Akhlaq
Encyclopedia
Zahoor ul Akhlaq was a pioneering artist from Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. He is known for his approach to painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
, design and architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
, as well as his teaching at the NCA (National College of Arts
National College of Arts
The National College of Arts Lahore, usually referred to by its acronym NCA, is a famous old college in Lahore, Pakistan.Like all old institutions, the National College of Arts, has a historical tradition. Much of its present tone was set long ago when it was known as the Mayo School of Arts...
) in Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
.
Background and family life
Born in DelhiDelhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, he was the eldest in a family of 11 children. His family moved to Lahore in 1947 during the partition, eventually settling in Karachi. Akhlaq attended the Sindh Madrassah as a young boy and went to study in art in Lahore at the National College of Arts. In 1971, he married Sheherezade Alam
Sheherezade Alam
Sheherezade Alam is an internationally renowned Pakistani ceramist.-Education and Family:Alam was born to Mahmoud Alam, a former Pakistani tennis player and his wife, Surayya in Lahore. She has two brothers, Asad and Shaban. Brought up in Lahore, she completed her FA from Kinnaird College, Lahore...
, a potter, and the couple had two daughters, Jahanara, (1974–1999), Nurjahan (b.1979).
Education
- 1958-62, National Diploma in Fine Art; National College of Arts - Lahore, Pakistan
- 1966-67, Post graduate studies: Hornsey College of ArtHornsey College of ArtHornsey College of Art is a former college centred in Crouch End, London, England. Since 2008, the building has been a part of Coleridge Primary School, upon its expansion to four form entry...
, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its... - 1968-69, post graduate studies: Royal College of Arts, London;
- 1987 -89, post doctoral studies: Fulbright Research Fellowship at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music; Religion and the Arts, Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, USA and at Yale School of Arts and Architecture, Yale University.
Death
Akhlaq along with his elder daughter, Jahanara, were shot dead in their Lahore home on 18 January 1999.Work and influences
Akhlaq's painting invoked a dialogue between modernist abstraction and many 'traditional' forms and practices found within South Asia (including Mughal Miniature painting, calligraphy, vernacular architecture to name but a few). At a time when his contemporaries in South Asia were developing their work within a modernist tradition, or had primitivist leanings, he eschewed both schools by merging his interest in abstractions with traditional and vernacular practices. Although he famously evaded the label of an abstract artist, his work mostly fits this definitionAkhlaq's influences are from a vast range of sources, which include painting, literature, philosophy, Sufism, dance, and music. His teaching and practice is considered to have had a significant impact on a generation of Contemporary Pakistani art and artists.
Selected shows
- 1964 National exhibition, Lahore
- 1962 Solo exhibition, Karachi National Exhibition, Rawalpindi
- 1963 'Communication Through Art', Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Dhaka (Pakistan and Bangladesh)
- Solo exhibition, Karachi
- 1965 RCD Biennale, Tehran (Iran), 2nd prize
- National exhibition of arts, Dhaka
- Solo exhibition, Art Galleries, Rawalpindi
- Joint exhibition, Ministry of Culture, Now York and Montreal
- 1967 Museum of Modern Arts; Paris Also four exhibitions in London and Oxford, England.
- 1969 Lahore Museum
- Post graduate show, Royal College of Art, London
- 1970 'Painting in Pakistan', travelling exhibition, 26 countries
- 1974 Solo exhibition, Pakistan Arts Council, Karachi
- 1975 'Graphics In Pakistan', Italy
- 1976 São Paulo Biennale (Brazil)
- 1981 Solo exhibition, Pakistan National Council of the Arts, Islamabad
- 1982 Hershorn Museum, Washington D.C.
- 'Thirty Five Years of Painting in Punjab', Lahore Asian Festival; Tokyo
- 1983 Represented Pakistan in Asian Festival of Art, Dhaka
- 1988 joint exhibition, Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Religion and the Arts, Yale University (USA)
- 1989 Solo exhibition, Yale University Solo exhibition, Galerie Mont Calm Hull, Canada
- Solo exhibitions at Rohtas Gallery, Islamabad in 1982, 1990, 1992
- Solo exhibitions at Chowkundi Gallery, Karachi, in 1986, 1990, 1991 and 1993
Commissions and collections
- Gallery Borgeson, Malmo, SwedenSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
- Bibliothèque Nationale, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... - Wallraf Richartz Museum, CologneCologneCologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... - Bibliothèque Royale, BrusselsBrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many... - British Council, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, UK - Argyll Collection (England)
- Hiroshima Museum, HiroshimaHiroshimais the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
, JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... - Print Making Workshop, New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, USA - National Art Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan
- Embassies of Pakistan in Kuala LumpurKuala LumpurKuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
, London, Dacca, Delhi - Bilkent UniversityBilkent Universityİhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, commonly referred to as Bilkent University or Bilkent, is the first private, nonprofit university in Turkey with the fundamental aim of creating a center of excellence in higher education and research...
, AnkaraAnkaraAnkara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
, TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe... - Lalit Kala Academy, DelhiDelhiDelhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world... - National Museum, AmmanAmmanAmman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...
, JordanJordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
Designs
The logo the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi was designed by him. In 1981, he designed 2 of a set of 5 stamps issued to mark the Third Islamic Summit Conference at Makkah, Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. Both designs (40 paisas and Re 1) depicted an Afghan refugee girl.
Academic appointments
- 1963-91 Lecturer in Art, then Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and finally full Professor of Art and Head of Department in the Faculty of Fine Arts, National College of Arts, Lahore from 1979 until his retirement
- 1991-'92 Visiting Professor at the Department of Fine Arts, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
- 1994-'95 Visiting Professor, Ontario College of Art, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Memorials
The gallery at National College of Arts, Lahore is named in his memory as is the gallery at the Indus Valley School of Arts and Architecture, Karachi.Postage stamp
On 14 August 2006, Pakistan PostPakistan Post
Pakistan Post is a state enterprise dedicated to providing wide range of postal products and public services in Pakistan. It is the largest postal service in the country...
issued a Rs. 40 sheetlet to posthumously honour 10 Pakistani Painters. Besides Zahoor ul Akhlaq, the other 9 painters are: Laila Shahzada
Laila Shahzada
Laila Shahzada is one of Pakistan's most internationally renowned artists. She was of the first women painters in Pakistan to gain international recognition, with exhibitions around the world including Pakistan, London, Paris, Tokyo, Monte Carlo and New York.-Honours:She was awarded the...
, Askari Mian Irani
Askari Mian Irani
-Early life and education:Irani received a diploma in design from the National College of Arts , Lahore in 1967.-Stamp design:Irani designed two stamps of the Third Organisation of the Islamic Conference issue....
, Sadequain
Sadequain
Syed Sadequain Ahmed Naqvi , Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Pride of Performance, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, also often referred to as Sadequain Naqqash, was a world-renowned Pakistani artist, best known for his skills as a calligrapher and a painter...
, Ali Imam
Ali Imam
-Works:Immam has written more than 200 books, translated nearly 40. Child psychology, humanism and adventure is found in his writing. A simple style is available. Adventures, science fictions, stories related with historic events are the categories....
, Shakir Ali
Shakir Ali
Shakir Ali [ Urdu: شاکر على Shakir Ali [ Urdu: شاکر على Shakir Ali [ Urdu: شاکر على (1914–1975] was an influential modern Pakistani artist and art teacher. He was the principal of the National College of Arts in Lahore. He joined Mayo School of Art as Lecturer in Art in 1954 and after the...
, Anna Molka Ahmed
Anna Molka Ahmed
Anna Molka Ahmed was a famous Pakistani artist and pioneer of fine arts in the country after its independence in 1947. She was a professor of fine arts at the University of the Punjab in Lahore.-Background:...
, Zubeida Agha
Zubeida Agha
Zubeida Agha [ Urdu: زبىده آغا ] was the first Pakistani modern artist. After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, she was the first artist to have an exhibition of her paintings. She helped bring the modern idiom to Pakistan.-Career:...
, Ahmed Pervez
Ahmed Pervez
Ahmed Parvez [ Urdu: احمد پروىز was a Pakistani modernist painter whose work was marked with energy. He was member of The Lahore Group in Pakistan and founder member of the Pakistan Group in London....
and Bashir Mirza
Bashir Mirza
Bashir Mirza PP, was a Pakistani painter.-Early life:Born in Amristar in 1941, a Tonga makers son, B.M. manage to climb the ladder to fame.-Education:...
.
Award
- Sitara-i-ImtiazSitara-i-ImtiazThe Sitara-i-Imtiaz , is the third highest honour and civilian award in the State of Pakistan. It recognizes the individuals who made an "especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of Pakistan, world peace, cultural or other significant public endeavors"...
(2005). Posthumously awarded in recognition of his contribution to the arts and education.
External links
- Ten Great Painters Stamps by Pakistan Post
- LAAL- Celebrating the National Treasures of Pakistan
- Tribute to a Master - Newsline article by Niilofur Farrukh
- Postmodernism:Recent Developments in Art in Pakistan and Bangladesh
- Posthumous tribute to Ten Great Painters by Pakistan Post
- Contemporary Art from Pakistan, Asia Society, New York, USA
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitara-i-Imtiaz