Art Space
Sadequain
Calligrapher, Painter, Mural Artist
Syed Sadequain Ahmed Naqvi, Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Pride of Performance, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, also referred to as Sadequain Naqqash, was a world-renowned Pakistani artist, best known for his skills as a calligrapher and a painter. He is considered as one of the finest painters and calligraphers that Pakistan has ever produced.
Sadequain was responsible for the renaissance of Islamic calligraphy in Pakistan. He was one of the greatest calligraphers of Pakistan and helped transform the art of calligraphy into serious expressionist paintings. He claimed that his transformation into a calligrapher was manifested by divine inspiration. He did not follow the established tradition but created his own style of script.
Before Sadeqain, just a few painters had experimented with the medium of Calligraphy in Pakistan. It was Sadequain who with his unparalleled creative skills brought calligraphy into mainstream art form.
Sadequain was born on June 30, 1923 descending from a family of calligraphers. In late 1940s he joined the Progressive Writers and Artists Movement. It was Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy who brought Sadequain into the limelight. Sadequain received much praise for his calligraphic style, which is widely considered iconic by many critics of South Asian art.
Sadequain was the most prolific painter of Pakistan in. He was constantly at work and he worked on large scale. Sadequain was not interested in decorating drawing rooms of rich and powerful rather he worked on large murals for public buildings symbolic of the collective labour of humanity, and his work was mostly donated to the public.
He did thousands of dawings and gave them away to his admirers. He wrote and published hundreds of quartets. Sadequain also painted classical literature from the poetic verses of Ghalib, Iqbal and Faiz. He belonged to the school of thought which enriched realism with lyricism. As a poet Sadequian wrote hundreds of rubāʿiyāt in the style of Omar Khayyam and Sarmad Kashani.
Sadequain was a master muralist. He did number of large scale murals. His murals depict man’s endless quest to discover and develop the potentialities that lie within him. His murals are densely filled and tightly packed with images to render adequately the lofty subject.
In an interview he said, “People ask why I don’t paint flowers, butterflies and landscapes? I tell them that I seek the truth and I am after reality. I am not inspired by someone posing against the backdrop of roses in a vase or pink curtains. What inspires me is a person who has gone hungry for hours and is struggling for survival. The expression that lights his face at the end of the day when he has finally found some scraps, that is what touches me. I am a painter of the expression of reality. Self-proclaimed “Faqir,” Sadequain was outside society’s worldly greed or hypocrisy and called himself “speaker of truth.”
On a tour to India Sadequain painted murals in Aligarh Muslim University ,Banaras Hindu University and at Geological Institute of India. He has also painted mural in Abu Dhabi and a number f his murals can be seen in various parts of Pakistan.
In 1960 Sadequain was awarded with Tamgha-e-Imtiaz and in the same year he received first prize in National Exhibition. In 1961 he received Biennale de Paris award from Government of France. Sadequian is also recipient of President’s Medal of Honor awarded in 1962.
In 1987 Sadequain left this world leaving behind an unparalleled legacy.
Colors
Amazing facts
We see colors everywhere. From our favorite cloths and shoes to the wonders of nature everything presents a color. Color plays an important part in our daily life. As color is inseperable part of our daily life how much do we really know about color’s?
Here are some interesting facts about color:
- First color that a baby sees.
Red is the first color that a baby as young as 2 weeks can see. Recent study has shown that infants can distinguish color red at an early stage. Probably because the red has the longest wavelength among colors making it easy for developing receptors and nerves of infants to recognize.
- World is not the same
Men and women see the world differently. While a women see’s burgundy and tomato red and man experiences red. Researcher’s have found that these is a gene that allows us to see color red, and that gene sits on X chromosome. Women have two X chromosomes while as men posses’ only one. Two copies of this gene aid’s women to see red-orange color spectrum and makes women better in differentiating between close range of colors.
- Blue is said to be world’s most popular color.
According to various international studies, the world’s most popular color is blue. Based on the study conducted by several global marketing firms.
- Color manages anger.
Pink color is usually believed to suppress anger and anxiety due to its calming effect. That is the reasons we see prisons and mental health care institutions paint their walls pink.
- Colors affect our depth perception.
Our perception of depth depends on the color’s we experience. We perceive warm colors as being closer to us while as cool colors appear farther.
- Color and taste.
It is believed that colors affect the way we taste our food. An orange or crème-colored cup makes chocolate taste better than in any other cup with different color.
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Also called Eigenlicht dark light, or brain gray, is the uniform dark grey background that many people report seeing in absence of light.
- Is black a color?
The answer to this question depends on which color theory are we talking about. There are two general color theories. First is additive color theory where we perceive color’s as lights. If there is no light there is no color, therefore according to additive color theory black is absence of color
On the other hand, we have subtractive color theory where we perceive color as coloring pigment or agents such as paints. In this case black is a definitely a color.
