LAHORE: At a session ‘Decoding the Artistic Process, the Making of Miniature in Mughal Court’ of the Lahore Literary Festival on Thursday, Professor of Art from India Kavita Singh and artist and curator Saleema Hashmi discussed the contemporary and Mughal-era miniature, the paintings of past times and that of the present.
Prof Kavita Singh, opening up the discussion, referred to the art of past and present and at length discussed the paintings made in the Mughal time and how the artists of Mughal- era used to be commissioned to produce paintings following the orders of the high- ranking Mughals.
Ms Singhshowed some of the paintings from the Mughal era especially in reference to female Mughal artists and said that there were only few female artists at that time, most of them were those who painted as an exercise of fine arts.
She then showed paintings from Badshahnama, Hamzanama, and from Jahangir’s period and explained that how the artists of those times made small insertions in those paintings on their own, which were commissioned to them. How those artists captured in their artworks the socio-political scene of those times in a subtle unfelt manner. The artists of Mughal era in some of the paintings had also shown keen observation for architecture, the creatures of jungle, birds fluttering etc.
She referred to a painting from Badshahnama which showed the empathy of Mughal artist for the common people. She also referred to painting of Jahangir’s period which was considered one of the dream paintings of Jahangir. The painting in fact depicted the mystical vision of Jahangir.
Saleema Hashmi threw light on the contemporary miniature, how the journey of miniature started in Lahore with one institution National College of Arts, where Haji Sharif started it. Sheikh Shujjaullah was next in this line, finally touching the next line where one finds Ustad Bashir.
She said miniature had its own norms and restrictions which were later broken by contemporary miniature artists such as Shazia Sikander. The young generation of women artists reflected their struggle together with rigor through their works such as Ayesha Khalid.
Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2021
