LAHORE: An exhibition of 45 woodcuts depicting life and shades of the Walled City and the miserable lot of Kashmiri and Rohingya Muslims by renowned artist Mahboob Ali is on display at Zulfi’s Art Gallery, Johar Town.

Entitled “Five Decades of Excellence”, the exhibition of the multicoloured creativity was inaugurated on Oct 5 and is scheduled to last till Oct 22.

Most woodcuts represent structures of the Walled City such as its historic gates, havelis and bazaars, showing the love of the artist for his ancestral living place. It also establishes his mastery over recreating the sunlight and shades in the narrow and crooked lanes of the Walled City.

Mahboob Ali’s works on display till tomorrow

One woodcut is of Chauburji. Two more are particularly heart-rending; one shows Kashmiri women wailing over their oppression by Indian forces and another the plight of Rohingya Muslims.

A 1972 graduate of the National College of Arts, Mr Maboob Ali is the only artist in Pakistan who is making woodcuts and prints from them for the last five decades, keeping alive the centuries-old art started in China and Japan. He is also the only NCA student who did his thesis on woodcuts in 1972. None has ever done this afterwards.

He says the traditional woodcut prints are always produced in one colour. But he has brought about a revolution by producing prints of nearly 100 colours. He cuts portraits, landscapes, street scenes and even Islamic calligraphy in his wood blocks.

He is one of these artists on whom PhD scholars have written research articles. A Punjab University Fine Arts Department student also conducted research on his work for her MPhil degree.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2017