This book is essentially written as a reference point for the general reader interested in or doing research on the history of Pakistani art. It focuses on painting and sculpture as the two mediums of art in the subcontinent.
The first two chapters of the book present the period of the downfall of Mughal art, the materialization of the East India Company art, and the eventual Western style of the Raj art form. Naqvi presents Pakistani art as a distinguished aspect of Muslim heritage of the subcontinent.
Works of several pioneers of modern art, such as Zubeida Agha and Shakir Ali are analyzed in detail. Particular focus is given to how modern Pakistani artists juxtapose cubism and abstract images with the traditional subcontinental style of art, using the rich heritage to make individual expressions that our culture is familiar with and can relate to.
A chapter is dedicated to the women artists of Pakistan, who are using their art as a medium to define and represent their emerging independence as the current context of gender awareness would have it. The chapter on sculpture exposes, for the first time, the vibrancy and growth of this medium in Pakistan.
About the Author
Akbar Naqvi has a Ph.D in English Literature from Liverpool University. He has written on art for Pakistani newspapers The Sun , Dawn , and The Muslim for over twenty years. He currently writes for the monthly magazine, the Herald . Akbar Naqvi has taught the history of art at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture for several years. He read a paper entitled "Modern Pakistani Painting" at a seminar of The Royal Asiatic Society and Centre of South Asian Studies, SOAS, University of London.
