ISLAMABAD, Nov 13: Work on the prestigious National Art Gallery (NAG) has finally geared up and all the hopes that Pakistan would have its National Art Gallery by the middle of 2003 would be materialzed.
The underconstruction National Art Gallery is roughly spread over 12 acres of land while the covered area is approximately 120,0000 square feet. The complex will have 18 galleries including one main gallery for housing the collection of national paintings.
Besides, the NAG would have a separate space to exhibit 120 works of art excluding sculpture, ceramics since these will not be wall-mounted. According to the plan, the main gallery will be divided into different mediums, large and small formats.
Besides there will be exclusive sections for miniature paintings as well as children’s art. There will also be a gallery for miniature and graphics. There will also be four rotating galleries and five honour galleries dedicated to outstanding artists of the country.
The complex would also have an auditorium for 400 audience that can function as a theatre. The space and volume would be defined to cater to special needs of different works whether it be for special presence of wall hangings, installations, or mobile sculptures. The NAG would also have a small research and reference library. The PNCA high-ups talking to Dawn said the National Art Gallery will be a monumental building, a repository of the national artistic heritage of national treasures of art and sculpture,c ceramics. It has been designed in an oriental style with traditional brick work with fusion of modern requirements.The design prepared by Suhail and Pasha was unanimously declared the most suitable in the order of merit.
By the end of June 2000, the total funds released by PNCA to CDA amounted to Rs 73.053 million. Total expenditures made by CDA upto September 2001 totalled an amount of Rs 51.548 million.
Despite the financial constraints, the Ministry of Culture has assured PNCA of all their future support for the complex. the PNCA is also reported to have received assurances from the federal government of financial support for the implementation of the project.
The Pakistan National Council of the Arts has currently at its disposal about 400 to 450 paintings, some of them displayed at the existing National Art Gallery. By and large, most of these paintings were collected by late Zubeida Agha, Pakistan’s first modern painter who had collected paintings by the painters from East and West Pakistan. China, Japan and France have already showed interest to contribute for the NAG. The Director General PNCA has launched a programme called “ Friends of Art Programme.” Under this programme, banquet will be celebrated with important artists in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Islamabad and Peshawar. These funds will be spent on the purchase of national collection.
Raja Changez Sultan told Dawn that the funds will be raised by auctioning the paintings. He said that the friends of the art programme will require maximum support from the Board of Governors as well as from the Provincial Committee. He was confident that this programme would go a long way to raise revenues for the purchase of collection of national art.