Abdur Rahman Chughtai, Untitled (Mughal Princess), Circa 1960

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Signed lower right

Watercolour and wash on paper

70 x 55 cm
27 1/2 x 21 5/8 in

This painting was originally given by the Artist to the National Bank of Pakistan in the 1960s and was subsequently acquired by Shakir Ullah Durrani (1928–2009), who became the 5th...

This painting was originally given by the Artist to the National Bank of Pakistan in the 1960s and was subsequently acquired by Shakir Ullah Durrani (1928–2009), who became the 5th Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan in 1971. He started his career in banking, later becoming Managing Director of Pakistan International Airlines in 1969.

Chughtai’s paintings often feature enigmatic, romantic subject matter, inspired by Mughal and Persian miniatures and folk tales. He also took inspiration from the Art Nouveau movement and the work of artists such as Albrecht Dürer and Aubrey Beardsley. Chughtai studied at the Mayo School of Art in Lahore, where he was taught by Samarendranath Gupta, a pupil of Abanindranath Tagore.

His work is often compared to that of the Bengal School artists in their shared use of synthesised Mughal and Persian subjects and Japanese wash techniques, however by the 1920s he had developed a distinct style, keen to “insert himself in a history of Muslim painting that traverses Timurid, Safavid and Mughal eras.”1

After the formation of Pakistan, he was heralded as a national figure and is revered as one of the most important and influential South Asian artists of the 20th century. This painting features one of his key subjects, the, lone woman
pining for the return of her beloved. This painting is a wonderful example of Chughtai’s mastery of the wash technique, using varying hues of turquoise in the figure’s dress, as well as the background, contrasting her pale, outstretched hand bearing a ring. Her gaze looks past the viewer, giving the painting an enigmatic and
atmospheric feeling.

1. Akbar Naqvi, Image and Identity: Fifty Years of Painting and Sculpture in Pakistan, Karachi, 1998, p.58

Provenance

Acquired directly from the Artist by the National Bank of Pakistan in the 1960s;
Shakir Ullah Durrani, acquired from the above in the 1960s;
Thence by descent;
Grosvenor Gallery

Exhibitions

London, Grosvenor Gallery, South Asian Modern Art 2024, 13 June – 5 July 2024, no. 21, illustrated in exhibition catalogue pg. 57
Doha, The Art Mill, Qatar, Manzar, Art and Architecture from Pakistan 1940s to Today, 1 November 2024 - 31 January 2025

Literature

Manzar, Art and Architecture from Pakistan 1940s to Today, Doha, Qatar, 2025, page 28

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Abdur Rahman Chughtai

Further images

Provenance

Exhibitions

Literature