Graced as the capital of the great Mughal Empire by Emperor Akbar, Lahore became the nucleus of royal, creative activities as well as imperial architecture of the time. These grand traditions still find resonance in modern-day Pakistan: from the jewel in the Mughals’ crown, Lahore also became the hub of neo-miniature tradition in modern-day Pakistan.

It is in Lahore and its famed National College of Arts (NCA) that an indigenous identity of miniature art was made. But much like the tradition of miniature art, this indigenous identity too has evolved and absorbed many historical influences to become what it is today.

During the Sikh and British periods, for example, Western art and architecture styles helped in evolving a new aesthetic canon. The miniature tradition, which had already embraced the Mughal style, absorbed the secular dogma of the Bengal school with matchless skills of A. R. Chughtai before and after Partition in 1947.

In modern-day Pakistan, the city adored by Mughal emperors carried forward grand traditions in miniature art

However, the traditional court-style miniature painting crept into this city along with Ustad Haji Sharif, the court painter of the Maharaja of Patiala, and Ustad Shuja Ullah. Both these masters joined the Mayo School of Arts, now the NCA, to earn a living. Their presence ensured that an imperial style of miniature painting reserved a place in the academic arts of Lahore.

Ustad Bashir Ahmad at the NCA and Khalid Saeed Butt at the fine arts department of the Punjab University were involved in teaching and practising this art at the time.

Bashir Ahmad was a direct disciple of Ustad Haji Sharif and Ustad Aftab Ahmad Khan. He learnt all traditions that allowed him to later on replace Ustad Shuja Ullah, after his retirement in 1977 from the NCA.

This further pushed him to contribute in establishing a miniature art department at the NCA in 1982. This juncture of time is considered as the revolutionising point for the contemporary miniature painting, which took the art world by storm, not only in Pakistan but also on the international level.

There are multiple reasons for the revival of miniature painting as an avant-garde style of the 21st century in Pakistan and nostalgic linkage to our imperial past could be one such raison d'être.

British colonial art penetrated into the academic art institutions of Pakistan as early as they were founded. Both primary and middle generations of artists were deeply inspired by modern and Western techniques; even at the expense of negating indigenous art forms such as miniature painting.

This inspiration, as an antithesis, eroded with the fall of Communism in the ’80s and general public as well as the artists who started to detach themselves from the utopian dogmas of the post-colonial and post-war ideals.

Cultural history, heritage and identity were considered as a part of collective evolution rather than just an adoption of the alienated and imposed cultures.

Moreover, the revolution in the field of information technology also helped modern-day artists to develop a comparative and analytical approach towards their own styles and techniques, which enabled them to explore new possibilities with traditional or conventional art forms.

In these circumstances, the miniature department at the NCA provided a perfect platform to the young radical talent to experiment with modern ideas and themes.

On the other hand, corporate thinking, marketing and branding are other trademarks of the post-communist economic ethics. The art of selling became essential for art itself, and the global market changed the concept of regional artists.

Miniature paintings, with comparatively easy handling and shipping (due to their small size) allured international buyers from the West, who were already in love with South Asian royal miniatures, preserved in their museums and galleries.

Contemporary miniature artists of Pakistan exploited this aspect by encompassing themes such as global politics, democratic doctrines, international relations, gender, racism, fundamentalism, terrorism and identity crises to stretch the boundaries of imaginative visual culture to the rationale of existentialism.

The natural contrast created by the conventional style with the new-age themes encouraged many students at the NCA to opt for the miniature painting, leaving behind the popular large-scale oil on canvas.

Contemporary miniature of Pakistan does not exist in a vacuum, rather it is deeply rooted in the past with its rendering techniques and it absorbs very modern individual and collective narratives. The placement of familiar objects and characters like flowers, jewels, stylised faces and stereotype characters creates a resonance of reflective past in the minds of our local viewers whereas, at the same time, the vast range of current subjects attracts the foreign collectors and buyers.

The mushrooming of miniature artists in Lahore encouraged newer trends in other cities where art education had started burgeoning with proliferation of new universities and institutions.

Naqsh School of Arts and the College of Art and Design of the Punjab University in Lahore enhanced their miniature painting faculties. Fatima Jinnah University and the NCA in Rawalpindi and Hunerkada in Islamabad also established miniature departments to cater an ever increasing demand of art students. In Karachi, the Indus Valley and Karachi School of Arts and Balochistan University in Quetta offered degrees in this unique art form.

But interestingly, in almost all these universities and institutions, instructors and teachers of miniature art are graduates of the miniature department of the NCA, Lahore. The tradition set by NCA is now being replicated in other varsities.

As the main hub of artistic activities, Lahore served this style with all the appropriate etiquettes, which were not imperial in nature but good enough to help artists make money, fame and name. The mushrooming of art galleries in Lahore facilitated these artists to work prolifically, and modern miniatures emerged as comparatively affordable artworks. Their size, transportation and royal taste also played a vital role in evolving contemporary miniature painting.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, February 7th, 2016