If we look upon the academic inspirations in shaping and evolving art in Pakistan, we may find Shakir Ali as the harbinger of change. He, with his abstract style and simple looking technique in painting, introduced his indigenous palette of flat shades of reds, oranges, blues and textured lines. Shakir Sahib is normally considered as the pioneer of modern art in Pakistan, but his spectrum is very vast and he has deep roots in the soil of South Asia.

Warm colours, crude textures and a visual temper fashioned a skillful balance not only in his art but also in the aura he created with his presence at the National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore which, compelled many to follow him in acquiring new and modern techniques.

He was born in Rampur (India) in 1914 and received his early education at the Jamia Milia Islamia University, Delhi and Philanders Smith College, Nanital. His art journey started with an apprenticeship with the Okil Brothers in Delhi in 1937. Later in 1938, he joined Sir J.J. School of Arts in Mumbai and attained his Diploma in drawing and painting in 1944.

Shakir Ali took painting as an obsession and a means to break the shackles of time and space

Woman and bull

In 1945, along with the Bombay Contemporary Art Group, Shakir Sahib travelled in South India to study South Indian sculpture, fresco painting and architecture. During his stay in Europe, he joined the Slade School of Arts in 1946 and received a Diploma in fine arts in 1949.

Then he moved to France and worked with Andre Lhote; a well-known French figurative painter and sculptor. In 1950, Shakir went to the School of Industrial Design, Prague (Czech Republic), to study textile design.

In 1952, he came to Pakistan and joined the Mayo School of Arts. In 1953, his work was exhibited at the III-Biennale, San Paulo and in 1956; he had a one-man show at the fine arts department of the Punjab University, Lahore. He mounted another solo exhibition at the Arts Councils of Karachi and Lahore in 1957.

It is an interesting fact that he was deeply inspired by the Rajput painting with its simple, crude and naturalistic forms crafted with textured lines and primary colours. In his own style, Shakir Sahib evolved as a modern painter whose technique was that of a Western artist inspired more by the abstract style of expression, but whose palette was indigenous and always remained under the red, orange and blue shades; a characteristic associated with Rajput style painting.

Shakir Ali

The assimilation of the Western technique and style with the traditional aesthetic canon of the East emerged as a modern yet traditional style which is attributed to Shakir Sahib as the father of modern art in Pakistan.

When the artist joined the Mayo School of Arts in 1952 as a lecturer, the new state of Pakistan was in its infancy and along with the migrants from various parts or India, the diverse art forms also crossed the newly defined borders of Pakistan and India. Lahore became the hub of cultural and artistic activities that already had seen the exhibitions of modern painters like Amrita Sher-Gil and Zubeida Agha.

Six years after his induction as a young lecturer, the Mayo School of Arts earned the status of the National College of Arts in 1958, which marked the milestone of establishing a matchless art institution in the country with traditional and modern art excelling within its red-brick architecture to new horizons. In 1962, Shakir became its principal.

His paintings mainly present the individual and non-representational aesthetic character rather than any thematic or subjective value. This aspect put his style under the abstract art and speaks of his natural inclination towards it. In a radio interview, Shakir Sahib admitted that he was inspired by the old masters of the early Renaissance and especially the art of Tintoretto and Al-Greco, whereas among the 20th century artists, he was deeply touched by the harmony and balance of colours and contours that Henri Matisse and Georges Braque created with sensitive and emotional understanding of line and shades.

The artist gave more importance to the impact and expression that his indigenous colour palette would create instead of any topic or theme. For example, in one of his painting ‘Woman and the bull’, he presented fragility through woman and force by rendering the bull rather than presenting the shapes or images of the two.

Seated nude in blue

Shakir Sahib linked the abstract expressions in art to the origins and historical backgrounds of the various ancient civilisations. The caves of Altamira in Spain present the earliest forms of visual expressions that humankind is known to. He found those cave paintings as an expression of individualistic and sensitive nature, which actually evolved over the centuries into an abstract shape. The modern and non-representational art was based upon the philosophy, metaphysics and aesthetics and not on the mere representational shapes.

In modern age, physical distances have been shortened, but the emotional and conceptual distances are even more far-fetched. In this situation, individual and abstract expressions are of more value in reference with identity and authenticity. Shakir was aware of this philosophy and, therefore, he took painting as an obsession and a means to break the shackles of time and space.

Shakir Ali remain the principal of the NCA from 1961 to 1973 and two years later he departed for his eternal abode. During his stay at the college, he transformed a mere school of industrial arts into the NCA. Moreover, under his scholarship many novice art students developed into artists of unique style and strong ideas who shaped the contemporary art trends in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, September 28th, 2014