Saqeduain Biography Syed Ahmed Sadequain Naqqash 1930 1987

Saqeduain

Biography • Syed Ahmed Sadequain Naqqash (1930 -1987) was born in Amroha in 1930. • He travelled to Delhi in 1944 and began working as a calligrapher-copyist at All India Radio. • He worked here until 1946 before graduating from the University of Agra in 1948. Following partition Sadequain moved to Pakistan. • Sadequain’s rise to fame began in 1955, when he exhibited a number of works at the residence of Prime Minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, a liberal patron of the arts.

• Sadequain won the Pakistan National prize for Painting in 1960, and left for Paris later that year, at the invitation of the French Committee of the International Association of Plastic Arts. . • In September 1961 he was the laureate winner of the Paris Biennial’s ‘Artist under 35’ category, and was awarded a scholarship. • During the early 1960 s he travelled to Pakistan as well as throughout Europe and to the USA, and held numerous solo-exhibitions, including at the Commonwealth Institute Galleries and New Vision Centre, London, and at Galerie Presbourg and Galerie Lambert in Paris.

• In 1964 he was awarded the commission to illustrate a new edition of Albert Camus’ novel. L’Etranger, published in 1966 by Les Bibliopholes de L’Automobile Club de France. • Sadequain returned to Pakistan in 1967 following his father’s ill health during a visit to France. • In the early 1970 s he published a huge volume of poetry. It was during this period that he concerned himself mainly with calligraphy, as well as with state funded murals. • His popularity soared following his return to Pakistan, and he remains one of the most influential and important South Asian artists of the 20 th century.

Character of Sadequain • Sadequain as a person was veryhumble and a devopted human being. His love for art and what he created from his passion can be understood through the fact that he did not sale his paintings and would continue to paint even if his life was at stake. He once said ,

• Faiz Ahmed Faiz noted that, “when Sadequain’s pen moved, not only the universe, but also the past, present and the future moved with it. ” • There are hundreds of stories about Sadequain. One recounted by journalist Nasrullah Khan Aziz is a testament to Sadequain’s character. “ Once a man came up to Sadequain and said that he had a family to feed but no means of earning a living and the only thing he knew was how to drive a rickshaw. Sadequain gave him several thousand rupees to buy a rickshaw, and the only condition was that he had to do was take Sadequain wherever he wanted to go. This arrangement lasted for some time until one day Sadequain said to him, “You are free now. You don’t have to drive me around anymore. ”

• In an article in The Friday Times, the renowned journalist (late) Khalid Hasan documented several interesting anecdotes about Sadequain. In one instance he recalled an exhibition in Lahore, when a group of rich women — part of Lahore’s then small millionaire’s club — showed an interest in buying more than a few of Sadequain’s paintings. Sadequain was amused, but he told them that his paintings were not for sale and were he to put them on sale they would not be able to afford the price.

• Saqequain, who also contributed in works of literature often wrote verses and quadrants. One of his verses share his feelings regarding the love he had for his work, It is meant to enrich the aesthetic sense It transcends the spirit and resides in the heart O’ whom should I let know that my painting does not belong Amidst the décor of the ostentatious abode of the upstart

• Such was Sadequai’s heightof humbleness that when signing his name, Sadequain often used the prefix “Faqir” and judging by his life style he lived like one as well. • In the prologue of his collection of quatrains, Bayaz-e-Sadequaini, he wrote, “If I was given the choice of owning a shining city of gold provided I gave up painting and poetry, and the other choice was being whipped, even then I would choose to continue my work and endure the punishment of whipping. ”

Contribution to Calligraphy • Sadequain was one of the greatest calligraphers of his time who transformed the art of calligraphy into eye-catching expressionist paintings. • In its June 20, 1980 edition, the daily newspaper Khaleej Times of UAE stated, “Renaissance of Islamic Calligraphy – A mystic artist from Pakistan who has become a legend in his own time. The remarkable story of Sadequain, who did not seek but was endowed with divine inspiration. ” • He did not follow the tradition and created his own style of script. • His alphabets exude motion, mood, and paint vivid pictures of the message of the word. • Sadequain claimed that many of his paintings especially after the seventies had been based on calligraphic forms to portray images of cities, buildings, forests, men, and women. • Sadequain is commended for bringing calligraphy into a mainstream art form, as most of the known Pakistani artists have followed Sadequain and calligraphic art now dominates the art scene.

• Syed Amjad Ali wrote in his book, Painters of Pakistan, that after Sadequain’s first exhibition of calligraphies in December 1968, “For next fifteen years or sixteen years, a veritable Niagara of painterly Calligraphy flowed from his pen and brush. ” He further stated that, “He initiated painterly calligraphy and set the vogue for it in Pakistan. ”

Sadequain as a Muralist • Sadequain started his career with oil paintings and murals. • His works depicting Cubist-like figures, seascapes, and landscapes, which often tackled moral and political issues, gained him local fame and state patronage. • He was a self-made, self taught painter, completely untraditional and above all, shows no signs of being inspired by any other master of art who lived before him or at his time. • Sadequain employed powerful symbolism and metaphoric gestures in his paintings with abundance.

• Major body of his work can be categorized as Cactus Series, Mystic Figurations Series, Sun Series, Cobweb Series, Crow and Scarecrow Series, House of Cards Series, Sar-ba-Kuf Series, and Crucifixion Series, to name a few. • His paintings depict cubist cacti –like figures that give us an overview of his inspiration from the cactus plant.