KARACHI: Eminent artist Qudsia Nisar, considered to be the pioneer in Pakistan in using watercolours to express abstract ideas without using conventional forms, passed away in Islamabad on April 27.

Living in Karachi, she had been unwell for the past several months, suffering from various ailments. Due to her health issues, the members of her family shifted her to Islamabad in March 2021 where, despite getting medical care, her condition worsened and she breathed her last.

As a highly prolific painter, Ms Nisar was widely recognised in the artist fraternity as the pioneer in the country for using watercolour to express abstract visions of modern art without using conventional figures and forms. Exploring this unusual dimension with courage and creativity, she produced hundreds of works of art in about four and a half decades of her illustrious career.

Ms Nisar was also deeply committed to the education and training of youth in diverse artistic disciplines, including watercolour, oil painting, sculpture and crafts.

She served as principal of the Central Institute of Arts and Crafts at the Arts Council of Pakistan in Karachi for eight years. The institute fostered dozens of new artists as the only non-profit, public service art education centre of the province.

Earlier, from 1977 to the early 1990s, she served as head of department and as a lecturer in the Lahore-based Punjab University’s Department of Fine Arts. From 2006 to 2010 she performed her duties as chairperson of the Department of Fine Arts and lecturer at the Islamia University of Bahawalpur. She also provided guidance to students at the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology at Jamshoro, which recognised her services with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.

Ms Nisar’s originality and her ability to combine bright colours with subtle, pastel shades in innovative new forms and shapes received appreciation from renowned critics and fellow painters in Pakistan and abroad, where her work was frequently exhibited.

Her paintings and her services to education have been highly praised in several books by critics, and depicted in many documentary films. She received a number of national and international awards, including the President’s Pride of Performance Award in 2018.

Her admirers plan to organise a virtual tribute in the second half of May 2021 to honour her memory.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2021