ISLAMABAD: A retrospective exhibition of master pieces of Iqbal Hussain’s paintings started at the Tanzara Gallery on Tuesday.

John Wall, former country director World Bank, inaugurated the exhibition and also presented some of his most iconic paintings from his personal collection.

He spoke about his first meeting with the artist back in 1990 and the evolution of his career.

He also spoke about his romance with the Walled City of Lahore, its architectural grandeur, environs and inner city life where the artist was born and grew up.

Mr Wall was instrumental in supporting Mr Hussain’s cause by organising various art exhibitions and giving the artist his due respect and recognition.

“I will try to visit Iqbal in Lahore to inquire after his health and to relive our fond memories of the last over two decades when I met him in 1990,” said Mr Wall, who has been in Islamabad since last week.

“I recognised Iqbal’s talent when I saw his paintings. He paints the real lives of his community and their surroundings,” Mr Wall commented.

About a painting titled Laila, which Mr Wall saw for the first time in a World Bank exhibition on 2007, he said: “It depicts a woman of the community who exudes strength when the men drift away and the other women turn to her for help.”

He also spoke about the Street Boy, a self-portrait and some other paintings by the artist.

Mr Hussain has also painted musicians who are also an ancient community of the walled city, Mr Wall said.

He also spoke about the dancing girl, Sheena, who was very famous in the community, and the painting of a woman which got Iqbal Hussain kicked out of the gallery in Zia’s repressive regime.

The incident was also confirmed by Naeem Pasha, an architect and director of Rohtas Gallery.

He said film star Zamarud, who was Iqbal’s aunt, brought him to the National Council of Arts to learn painting techniques. He received help and encouragement from Salima Hashmi, who was teaching at the institution at the time.

Mr Hussain, perhaps, one of the most important living rebellious artists of Pakistan, has pursued his passion for painting and its intrinsic challenges, breaking taboos about the most exploited community of the Walled City of Lahore.

Over the course of his five-decade career, he committed himself to addressing the plight of city’s courtesans, dancers and musicians. He looked beyond the glitter and addressed the darkness, despair and desolation that enveloped them.

“I was born and brought up in Lahore’s Shahi Mohallah and what I saw around me inspired my works,” Iqbal Hussain said in a statement.

“I have no intellectual pretensions; these are my people and I paint them as I know them from their close quarters. I paint what I see around me and each one of my paintings tells a story,” he is quoted as saying.

The exhibition offers a grand overview of the artist’s achievements across all media including painting, drawing and printmaking, said Tanzara Gallery Director Noshi Qadir.

“Iqbal is a unique artist, close to my heart. He was not only my teacher but a dear friend,” she added.

“Iqbal Hussain is one of a few rebellious artists who appeared on the art scene in early 80s, a very suffocating and difficult time and challenged the established morality and sense of society,” commented poet Ilona Yusuf.

When asked about the rising extremism and restrictions on freedom of expression, she said: “Restrictions and rebellious art and literature go side by side. At times we have to express our views going underground.”

She, however, said today’s Pakistan is relatively open than the 80s.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018