September 14, 2002

Fatima Munir collects praises and scorns for the Gallery, as expressed by Lahore’s art community

Umberto Eco, commenting on the Italian press once said: “When it is not talking about television, the Italian press talks about itself.” Following this example, the present issue of the Gallery has turned self-reflective. But actually the two activities — art making and its criticism — cannot be separated. Because the act of writing on art is a way of understanding it and helping others to comprehend it.

Looking back at the history of writing on art, one finds only a few books on Pakistani art. Besides these there are magazines and newspapers, in which art reviews appear in addition to the interviews of the artists. Normally, all the English newspapers publish one or two articles on art, either regularly or occasionally. But by and large these reviews and articles do not go beyond furnishing rather irrelevant details, exaggerated praise and ruthless comments. Due to their substance and quality, the art sections in most dailies can serve well for the purpose of recycling than to stimulate any intellectual concerns.

This pathetic situation in art writing reflects, replicates and influences the making of art also. While there is still a need to improve the standard of art criticism, and at the same time to liberate it from the confines of English readership by introducing art as a theme to the majority of Urdu speaking public, the Gallery is seeking to fill many gaps. The fact of it being a separate (and most importantly, the independent) part of a major newspaper of the county is a meaningful statement. It signifies that, like sports, entertainment, fashion, literature, economy and business pages, art too deserves to be given a substantial space.

However, a major dilemma for any writer, specially the one indulging in English journalism is a lack of popular readership. The problem is compounded in the case of writing on art, although the colourful reproduction of art works, next to usually boring text still attract attention of some browsers. The first thing that dawned on me while doing research for this article was that in our art institutions it is a very small group of people that actually reads a newspapers. And among them, again, only a few rarely look at the art pages of a newspaper.

Still I tried to talk to those who seemed to be interested in art and do read the Gallery regularly. These included painters, art school administrators, teachers, students and art collectors. Here is what they had to say:

Rahat Naveed Masood, painter and teacher at The Institute of Art and Design, Punjab University, Lahore, described the Gallery as a good effort to introduce art activities. However, she felt that it should also give coverage to the painters from Lahore along with the Karachi artists. And all the schools of thought should be represented in its pages. She also suggested that there could be an annual issue of the supplement, in which all the selected articles are reprinted.

Quddus Mirza, artist and teacher of fine art at NCA, held the opinion that though the Gallery is trying to de-mystify art, it can make its content more accessible to the ordinary public by including articles aimed at inculcating art appreciation — a subject we desperately lack. A similar thought was expressed by Shireen Rahim, who is an assistant professor at the English department, Punjab University, and a collector of art. She said, “I like it because usually the writings on art are of esoteric nature. The Gallery has a more public approach and everyone can read it to understand and enjoy the visual arts.”

Azmat Kamal, an eye specialist by profession, is better known as a photographer, and is a subscriber of Dawn. He thought the Gallery does not offer anything new. All the articles are of the same level. The ones that used to appear in various magazines and journals are now assembled in this supplement. The same individuals are writing the same stuff, praising each other. Most of our senior writers have a stereotypical approach.

Along with the art schools, the galleries and museums have a strong role in the development of art in society. The new coordinator of Shakir Ali Museum, Lahore, was very excited about the Gallery. Amina Patudi told me: “I am really happy that we have such a supplement today. Through this we can read about an artist in detail, and with occasional special issues such as the Sadequain Special and In Memoriam: Ali Imam. All this body of information is very essential to get to know the creative scene prevailing in the country.”

Rakhshanda Atwar is a painter and heads the Hunerkada Academy of Art in Lahore. She compared the Gallery with other publications in the past: “There used to be a lot of promotional press in the past, but the Gallery is bringing out more balanced voices. I think it is a significant contribution, because it is only through critical, often harsh, reviews that both, our art and artists, will move forward.”

Artist Amina Jahan Jamil, who is currently teaching art at the Aitichson, said: “I think the Gallery is very informative as well as diverse. The critics who write for it have a larger perspective, blending art with political and social conditions of the country.”

Hina Hussain, designer and coordinator for the course of History and Heritage at NCA, is a regular reader of the Gallery. Her impression of the magazine was: “Well, the first thing I noticed was that the writers were trying to impress by their vocabulary through using bombastic words that can easily be replaced by simple English, which will make their pieces more communicative. Secondly, often the content is too long and it is more of a personalized view rather than any analytical insight. It should not be like that because it’s not only the artists who read these reviews but other people also read them.”

Ghania Asad, a young teacher at the ceramics department of NCA, felt that the magazine had managed to cover a lot of events on the country’s art scene. She suggested that it should have more in-depth essays rather than just news of the exhibitions or information about the artists, because with this type of material, it would become an important document of our art.

Students are the main audience for any activity on art. All the publications aim to reach the young generation of aspiring artists. A few of them shared their opinions about the Gallery: Sana Arjumand of NCA stated, “As a reader I think Dawn is offering us a regular gallery on paper, where we get to know about all sorts of art.” Ayesha Omer from the same institution said: “I really like it. The main thing is that it is not difficult English, so people from diverse backgrounds can easily read it”.

For Maryam Asghar, another student, it provides an explanation of techniques and terms, which students use in their studios and studies. Raza Taj was interested in reading about the lives of successful professionals. That gives him an incentive to work hard to become like one of those celebrated artists. To Ali Kazim, “It is a way of documenting local art. It is very helpful for students like us, who don’t have any chance to read about art from this soil.”

At Hunerkada, Lahore, Shehrbano Qizilbash was quite enthusiastic about the Gallery. She pointed out an important feature of the supplement, saying it furnishes and documents details of new and those artists who are living away from our art centres. Generally the students from Punjab University were pleased with the idea of an exclusive art magazine. Zunaira Malik told me: “I don’t read it regularly, but whenever I see it, I believe it is a valuable addition to our art. So inspiring that I dream about writing for it myself.” Another student from the institute, Arooj Zehra, had this to say: “It is a great service to art. I have been collecting all the issues and consult these for my examinations.”

Maham Gul thought that the Gallery was a good means to introduce the graduating students to the viewers. “It is very encouraging to read about art activities taking place at the art galleries and other institutions apart from this city.” And to Afshan Syed from PU: “the Gallery gives the students a greater insight into whatever is happening in our art world. It is a way of knowing people who are around but we are not familiar with them. For example, until I had not read about Bashir Ahmed in the Gallery, I did not know that my class fellow’s father was a celebrated miniature painter and working at NCA across the road.”