July 5, 2003

Unlike the flickering images of the mass media, art requires the long look. Its images do not pass. They can be contemplated, returned to and examined in the light of their own history. Recalling the visual art scenario of the immediate post-Partition years we discover that nature and culture were still unfailing regulators of thought and an inexhaustible storehouse of forms for the artist. This was because mass visual media scarcely ever existed in the world of our grandparents; painting and sculpture carried more weight: the weight of tradition, dreams and social commemoration.

In the early years after independence the name of artist Sughra Rababi stands tall among those in the Karachi art circles subscribing to such idyllic cultural expressions. Her oeuvre centralized on delicately lyrical figuration with gracefully drawn elongated limbs and rich decorative elements culled from heritage and tradition. Rababis aesthetics were tempered by the strong academic influences of her early art education and her own goals in life.

As narrated by her daughter, Dr Zeba Vanek, “for four years Rababi strived and persevered under her mentor Man Mohan Roy Chowdery, principal Saranagati Art School (in what is now Pakistan Chowk) Karachi, an affiliate of the Shantiniketan university in Bengal.” Severely disciplined in the art of drawing, she was allowed to paint only in the third year.

On graduation she was awarded a scholarship by the school to pursue post-graduate work at Rabindranath Tagore’s Vishwabharati University at Shantineketan in India. Here she came under the inspiring influence of Nanda Lal Bose, Abanindranath Tagore and others who were creating art related to the environment as well as to indigenous traditions and contemporary international movements.

Rababi’s subjects were painting, sculpture, designing, modelling, music and drama. By the time her education was over she was able to read local art tradition as a spectrum of art forms running from the decorative to the representational, the abstract to the figurative and from the symbolic to the narrative.

In the early 1940s, the artist was executing classics in the tempera-wash technique and one particularly striking painting titled Anarkali, along with The Slave Girl was submitted to the All-India Painting Competition in 1945. Stalwarts Tagore and Chughtai had also participated in the show. Anarkali won the first prize and The Slave Girl was awarded a consolation prize. The unexpected win was a source of much cheer and jubilation among the Muslims in the art world. The event gave impetus to other developments in her art career. The same year she was invited to exhibit her paintings, inspired by Iqbal’s poetry in Hyderabad, Deccan, at the prime minister’s residence. Nawab Saeed Ahmad Chattari inaugurated the show and all the works were sold out.

Zeba Vanik further relates that “a friendship based on mutual respect and admiration developed between the illustrious master Abdul Rehman Chughtai and Sughra Rababi, and her parents during the 1940s in Lahore.” Chughtai always encouraged young Rababi and Rababi considered Chughtai the greatest painter of this part of the world.

In the ‘50s and ‘60s, Rababi was creatively productive and part of the mainstream art activities. Solo exhibitions were held in Lahore and Karachi and through the Government of Pakistan and private managements. Her work was exhibited internationally also.

The award-winning Anarkali suffered a tragic fate when it was badly damaged and termed “lost” in the course of a representative exhibition abroad. It was later discovered at a known person’s residence in Karachi but was hastily removed before it could be retrieved.

On another such occasion a painting The Bride was selected by the government and sent for an exhibition to the New York World Fair in 1965. The painting was stolen from New York, never to be found again. What made the work so special was not only its attractive art work but also its unusually large size for a work executed in the laborious tempera technique.

In true tempera, the binder is yolk of the egg mixed with water, giving a smooth, fast drying paint, very suitable for fine work, which retains a bright, permanent surface. Like The Bride, most of Rababi’s tempera works suggest gloss of enamel or stained glass variety seldom blended to produce effects and almost always flat.

The subject of The Bride is a bevy of young women invested with all the accoutrements of traditional attire and mannerisms representing a wedding ritual. It is marked by linear rhythm, strong colouration, transparent drapery embellished with rich motifs, patterns and ornaments.

Women at leisure displays a similar delineation, figural grace and charm. Girls with dolls and “Village” are two other anecdotal works. Sharp, decisive draughtsmenship, vivid and glowing colours flatly laid out, stylized treatment of trees and plants, decorative textile designs and relevant architectural settings aim at specific evocation, but the works are essentially pictorial in significance.

The evocation is not sought by dramatization of the situation as in Mughal paintings but by managing the total pictorial design of the various constituents of the painted surface in terms of space, volume, line and colour.

Rababi’s oeuvre is inspired by modern synthesis of Mughal art and western academics. But she does not explore the 3D effect, preferring to adhere to the flat two-dimensional presentation. Her endeavour was for an indigenous, oriental depiction of the simple wholesome aspect of life, often glorifying the folk and popular elements of culture.

Zeba Vanek’s narration gains momentum when she quotes her mother’s dedication to causes. She recalls Rababi telling her “At the inception of independence I was inspired to paint a portrait of the Quaid-i-Azam. While I was working on it in May 1948, the Jews usurped the lands of the Muslims and created the state of Israel. The Grand Mufti of Palestine sent two representatives to Pakistan to collect funds.”

Rababi’s father suggested that the portrait be donated as a fundraiser. Chief Minister Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah presided over the function while Mr Mohammed Ali Rangoonwala auctioned the picture. It was September 11, bids had risen to Rs15,000 when news came of the Quaid’s sad demise. The auction was immediately stopped, the gathering dispersed and the money was handed to the Grand Mufti’s representatives.

Much later in the ‘80s and ‘90s the artist again held benefit shows. By now she had entered her calligraphy phase. She dedicated entire exhibitions to establish scholarship trusts for Palestinian students here. She painted for Amnesty international to publicize human rights violations. In San Franciso an exhibition of her works was organized to aid the Somalian famine victims through Unicef in 1992. She painted in aid of the Bosnian war victims in 1993-4. While still at work on that project, “assailants entered the home-studio of Sughra Rababi and stabbed her to death.”

Just three days earlier her daughter received a “proclamation” from the Mayor of San Francisco announcing January 19, 1994 as “Sughra Rababi Day” in honour of her efforts for the Somalian famine victims.