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O
ne of Pakistan’s most prolific and well‒known artists, Syed
Sadequain Ahmed Naqvi—also known as Sadequain Naqqash—
was born in 1930 in Amroha, east of Delhi, to a family of
calligraphers. He subsequently moved to Pakistan after his graduation from
Agra University in 1948, and shot to fame at the age of 31, when his work
won recognition at the 1961 Paris Biennale. The present lot was painted
during this time in Paris, a period which yielded some of his best works.
Sadequain’s visual language is a complex amalgamation of poetry, and
Western and South Asian artistic influences. In 1944, he became familiar
with the works of Urdu writers and poets while working with the All India
Radio in Delhi. The sight of large cactus plants during his residency at
Gadani, Pakistan, in 1957 prompted him to move towards “an imagery of
exaggerated linearity... This period also marks the beginning of Sadequain’s
exploration of the jagged, elongated figure,” as seen in the present lot.
(Salima Hashmi and Mohsin Hamid,
Hanging Fire: Contemporary Art from
Pakistan
, New York: The Asia Society Museum, 2009)
The 1960s, when the present lot was painted, was a crucial phase in
furthering Sadequain’s exploration of calligraphic figuration. He had begun
to “appropriate the textual‒classical Islamic culture of South Asia in his
drawings and paintings.” (Hashmi and Hamid) His increased engagement
with Urdu during this time became central to his work. Sadequain’s visual
tropes were, in part, also informed by the work of Henri Matisse, Paul Klee,
Alberto Giacometti and Pablo Picasso. The composition of the present lot
shows Sadequain’s masterful manipulation of the Arabic Kufic script into
figures. The rhythmic curved forms are given energy, texture and depth
by the scratched surface technique. Works such as the present lot created
a modern interpretation of calligraphy, in what Dr. Akbar Naqvi terms
“Calligraphic Cubism” in his book
Image and Identity
. According to the
Parisian newspaper
Le Figaro
, “Sadequain adds up the impression of space,
density, volume and the reality of matter, which transforms an abstract
thought into a material fact in plastic.” (
Le Figaro
, 16 October 1962)
The Dutilleul family were Parisian collectors, notable for their collection of
Old Masters and Impressionist paintings. The family’s legacy of collecting
and supporting young artists dates back to the early 20
th
century. This
passion continued well into the 1960s when they acquired a number of
works by Sadequain, who was living in Paris at the time. The present lot was
part of this remarkable collection.
Sadequain
Source: Wikipedia
102
SADEQUAIN
(1930 ‒ 1987)
Birds
Signed, dated and inscribed 'Sadequain/ 11/10/66/ Birds/ Painted at Paris' (on the reverse)
1966
Oil on canvas
45.25 x 35.5 in (115 x 90 cm)
$ 25,000 ‒ 35,000
Rs 16,00,000 ‒ 22,40,000
PROVENANCE:
Formerly from the Dutilleul Collection, Paris