LAHORE: Provincial Minister for Information and Culture Samsam Bukhari is set to visit Alhamra Art Museum on July 10 to look at the recently restored visual artworks on display.

The museum houses artworks of legends however for at least two decades no new pieces have been bought for it. The minister is visiting the visual art facility on the invitation of Lahore Arts Council Executive Director Ather Ali Khan.

Art critic and educationist Qudus Mirza termed the visit a positive step. He said that though it was sad that no artworks had been bought for the museum for a long time, but there were certain limitations the councils were facing in terms of low budget allocations. “I think the corporate sector should be approached and requested to donate artworks of leading artists and a plaque of those companies can be displayed with the donated artwork,” he suggested.

He was of the view that Alhamra museum needed proper promotion so that people interested in visual arts knew the kind of treasure it held.

Former National College of Arts principal Saleema Hashmi said that the main chunk of artwork displayed at the museum was bought when the council was headed by her father Faiz Ahmed Faiz. She underlined the need for buying fresh artwork for the museum. “The council can form a committee of curators and art collectors to buy new artworks of maestros and in certain cases that of contemporary leading artists,” she added.

Ather Ali Khan said that efforts were under way to purchase new artworks for the museum. Minister Bukhari will hopefully visit the museum on July 10 and see the artworks recently restored by trained personnel. A briefing will also be given to the minister, which would encompass the past and the present of the visual arts facility.

Alhamra Art Museum is the only museum that houses a collection of 326 art pieces by legends and contemporary artists, including Sadequain, Ustad Allah Bakhsh, AR Chughtai, S Safdar, Ahmed Pervaiz, AJ Shamza, Zubaida Agha, Khalid Iqbal, Sufi Waqar and many more. Currently, 149 pieces are on display, while 177 are placed in the storage.

In 2017, nine pieces by legendary artists were received from Punjab Arts Council and were now part of the museum’s inventory. These paintings belonged to Anna Molka Ahmed, Colin David, Ghulam Rasool, Moeen Najmi, Mehmood Butt, Salima Hashmi and M Shahbaz.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2019