LAHORE: A prominent patron of the arts for decades passed away a few days ago in Lahore, leaving behind a vacuum in the art world in Pakistan.

Mr Jalaluddin Ahmed was a civil servant by profession and served in the information ministry, but he was better known as a great lover of the arts, devoting his entire life to promoting and working for them.

Mr Ahmed was born in Lucknow in 1925. He graduated with a Masters in English Literature and started teaching at the Aligarh Muslim University. It was then that he began to research on the contemporary art movement, with help from a connoisseur of arts, Prof Shahid Suhrawardy.

In 1954, he published his first book,Art in Pakistan, which gained him eminence. Painter Wahab Jaffar describes the book as an important record for the art movement of that era.

“It describes the work of not just the West, but also East Pakistani artists, including Zainul Abideen and Kibriya; women artists such as Zubaida Agha and Laila Shahzada and others, including Ali Imam, Shakir Ali, A.R. Chughtai. In fact, he was friends too with many of these artists,” said Mr Jaffar. “Another book he wrote wasContemporary Painters of Pakistanpublished in 1958.”

He was made the assistant director in the Department of Films and Publications and later appointed its director general. In 1972, he took a six-month leave to research at the British Museum on contemporary arts in the Islamic world, at the end of which he was transferred to Cairo as the press attaché in the Pakistan embassy.

In London, he and his wife came up with the idea of an English art magazine, which came to life with the help of Moazzam Ali, then deputy secretary general of the British Council.Arts in the Islamic Worldreceived tremendous response; it was published for 18 years until the sponsors withdrew.

Former information minister Javed Jabbar remembers Mr Ahmed as a “slight and diminutive” man from his outward appearance, but his personality being the complete opposite. “As a person, he stood 10 feet tall, especially in terms of arts and culture,” he added.

Tauquir Mohajir, a publisher of books and journals on art, says he was very closely associated with Mr Ahmed, and they shared a common interest in art. “He was an institution; I have never seen a more energetic person,” said Mr Mohajir. “The second time I met him he had moved to Karachi, and was planning to set up the Foundation for Museum of Modern Art (FOMMA).”

Ahmed and his wife both became active members of FOMMA Trust under whom began a series of publications in 2003 -- the first monograph on the late artist Ali Imam was published and sold out, followed soon after by one on Zubeida Agha. Over the years, the list of publications only grew.

He also worked closely with artist, sculptor, designer and advertising trendsetter Imran Mir whose wife Nighat is the honorary director of FOMMA Art Centre. “We made an excellent team,” she remembers. “Both of us were extremely privileged and honoured to have worked with him.”

She said that there was a severe dearth of art books which Mr Ahmed helped counter.

Ahmed always emphasised on recording and preserving artistic history for future generations. “He was actually so passionate about art that even when he was in his 90s he was still thinking of planning on promoting it,” recalls Mr Mohajir.

His eldest son,Anwar Jalal, sums up his father, saying, “Materialism had no place in his thoughts and life; even after serving at the highest levels in government service, and holding other achievements, he never had real estate of his own, not even a car. He prided himself on always working with his own hands and was fiercely independent. He was a devout and most affectionate family man.”

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2020