Calligraphic art, biographical notes and a collection of over 160 calligraphic paintings of renowned artist Sadequain are being presented at Gallery 6 here from Monday for the first time in the federal capital. Two new books about the iconic painter were launched last year at Gallery 6 in collaboration with the Sadequain Foundation, California, USA. One was a collection of calligraphies “The Legend of Sadequain – Renaissance of Calligraphic Art in Pakistan,” which presented biographical notes and a collection of over 160 calligraphic paintings of the legendary artist. The second book “Mystic Expressions by Sadequain – an odyssey to exaltation with Ghalib, Iqbal, Faiz and Sadequain” had illustrations, or one could even call them interpretations, of poetry of these famous poets by Sadequain.
These books are two of the five books printed by the Foundation in USA to date. At that time, a limited number of these books were imported from USA and sold here. Even though their quality was not very good, they received tremendous response as almost all copies were sold on the launch day. This highly encouraged the Sadequain Foundation to print the books on Sadequain in Pakistan.
The illustrations of Ghalib were done in 1968, of Faiz during the 1970s and 80s and of Iqbal during the 1980s. Sadequain was deeply interested in the issues that have challenged the best minds of the human race — the questions about the mysteries of the universe, meaning of life on our planet and beyond, the role of human beings in the universe, freedom and self determination, survival and progress, and the fine line between reason and emotion — even in his own poetry he deals with such issues.
The book “Mystic Expression” is a high quality coffee table presentation with hard cover and is of much larger size than the American print. The book also has additional features, such as the book has at its center fold, a 48-inch poster size spread of the ceiling mural at the Lahore Museum. This has never been published before. The ceiling mural measures a staggering 95 x 30 feet. Currently the mural is under repair and a subject of much debate in the media. Also this Pakistani print contains Sadequain’s 56 feet wide and 9 feet tall mural illustration of poetry of Iqbal, which has not been seen before by public and never before published in media.
The book spreads over 223 pages, with high quality all colour illustrations and is a collector’s item. The book was put on sale at Gallery 6 on Sunday 24. The gallery is working as a partner of the Sadequain Foundation USA in promoting its aims and objectives, and has offered a 5% discount on the book to its regular visitors till 27 July. It is worth noting that only 500 limited edition copies have been printed for worldwide sale and only 50 copies have been allocated for sale in Islamabad.
Syed Sadequain Ahmed Naqvi was born in 1930 in Amroha and. Sadequain was a world renowned Art legend. He was best known for his independent real creative art and novice trends in Islamic Calligraphy. His original superb themes and huge murals dwarf many and some are still regarded as matchless in the world. His international recognition was due to introduction of new initiatives and trends in art and particularly poetic calligraphy which was almost nonexistent then. He was a master genius of his own self-inspired school of thought and different from other great artists like Michael Angelo and Leonardo de Vinci.
Sadequain died in 1987 at the age of 57 years in Karachi.
