February 28, 2004

It is always difficult for government officers, especially those who have remained in positions of authority and clout, to decide what to do when they superannuate and go home. In this part of the world hobbies and pastimes are not the fashion, so what they do is to cling to service by begging and cajoling and thus trying to put off the day of retirement as much as they can. But that is a temporary expedient and the sad day must dawn, bringing misery to them and their families.

Today’s column is about a government officer who has not had to worry about what to do on retirement from service, because he is not just a man of exceptional art and talent but one of Pakistan’s foremost painters, viz. Ghulam Rasul. Till three years ago he was director general of the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA), and since he has been painting regularly all his life the transition from a cultural bureaucrat to an active artist has been no problem for him. So far as he is concerned the only change has been that he has stopped going to office, which I think is good for him in many ways. He was not cut out to be a bureaucrat.

GR (as he is called here in Islamabad) is perhaps the first professional painter in the country to reach the coveted post of DG of an official cultural organization. So far teacher-painters have only headed the arts departments of universities — which can be described as their legitimate domain — but have not graduated so high in the cultural bureaucracy. (Incidentally, he has been followed in this distinction by his successor DG of the PNCA, Raja Changez Sultan, who also is a committed painter.)

But there is more to tell about GR’s post-retirement activities. As he sees it, painting at leisure and on a whole time basis is not enough for him. He feels that his art places some additional responsibility on him and that he must also function as a teacher and impart instruction to the young, as also the elderly, if they are so inclined. He is conscious that there is tremendous talent around, and short of young people joining a professional art school (like Lahore’s National College of Arts), there must be some means of making artistic potential flower and bloom. Hence inception of Studio 542 in his house in Sector F-10, where he also holds regular exhibitions of his latest work.

Essentially a landscapist, GR is in the habit of going away to the hills and places like Moenjodaro for a couple of weeks at a time and doing nothing but paint local subjects and buildings, local characters and local scenery. He now regularly visits Skardu, Chitral and Kafiristan, and brings back striking images from there that he displays in his exhibitions. He has even built a small house in Chitral. When he is in Islamabad he goes out every morning for about three hours and sets up his easel at any spot that excites his fancy. This makes me wonder why our other famous landscape painters don’t go out of the cities where they are based and confine themselves to nearby villages for their subjects.

By the way, GR has donated three large paintings to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Islamabad Hospital Complex) as a gesture of gratefulness to the doctors and nurses there who took good care of him some years ago when he had a heart attack. The heart problem is still there, but doesn’t seem to bother him much, nor does he seem to bother much about it. He is otherwise in good health.

GR is anything but static in his expression. After a long time he went in for rural female figures, terraced rooftops of the poor with their variety of images of washing hung up to dry and pigeons in dovecotes, wind-blown leaves of trees in autumn and other departures from pure landscapes. I don’t know if it is age or inspiration of some kind but he is becoming philosophic and plans to do a series of paintings based on the verses of Allama Iqbal. He says there is such a thing as artistic interpretation of the poet’s ideas grounded on life as it is lived today. He is still to work on that idea.

Studio 542 is the name GR has given to his working rooms and the classes that he holds for those who want to learn the rudiments of art or practise and hone whatever skills they already possess. (There is nothing mystical in the figure 542; it is the number of GR’s house on 11th Avenue.) There are drawing, painting and printmaking classes, and it was a pleasant surprise to know that there are many serving government officers among his pupils, and even a few police officers. Also, lectures are delivered by outstanding artists and art teachers, while an art critique session is held occasionally where upcoming artists can bring their fresh works for appraisal by experienced seniors.

Studio 542 was formally opened in October 2001 with an exhibition of GR’s latest work, as also that of his painter daughter Maryam, who assists him in coaching duties, and a number of paintings of his late brother Abdus Sattar Taher, a fine artist in his own right. At that time he made a fervent appeal for the protection and preservation of a relief carving featuring the Buddha near village Manthal in Skardu area and is gradually being affected by heat and rain, with its brittle rock withering away. He had made a large-size painting of it. In his own words, “It is a unique piece of open air stone work dating back to the 8th century AD. The like of it is not to be seen anywhere else in Pakistan, being of outstanding artistic merit.”

GR wants a protective covering to be provided for this rock carving to preserve it against the vagaries of the weather, with the site landscaped in order to give it an attractive ambience. This is the first time I have heard of this Buddha carving, though GR rates it higher in quality than the statues in Bamiyan destroyed by the Taliban, which, he says, were only distinguished by their enormous size and not their artistry. Anyway, his appeal deserves attention by the Ministry of Culture.

Commenting on his teaching activities, GR says that young people want to learn from established painters rather than join art academies which are rare in any case. He did not react favourably to my suggestion to set up a degree or diploma- awarding institute, saying that trained and experienced faculty are not easy to find, and, in any case, people begin to think unjustifiably that such a venture is started to make money. He says, “My aim in these art classes is less to teach basics and more to educate my pupils in art, improve their expression and encourage individual vision, rather than turn out a standardised product like a factory.”

Those who are not acquainted with Ghulam Rasul intimately are surprised to learn that while art is his profession he also has a hobby. He is a keen bird fancier and has a fine collection of a variety of birds, including pigeons — fantail, messenger and others — and high-grade poultry. The entire length of his front boundary wall is taken up by commodious cages for them, with big strong locks on the doors. He does not rule out theft!