Sadequain, Calligraphy, Painting and Murals

Sadequain (1930 to February 10, 1987), Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Pride of Performance, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, also often 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 Pakistan has ever produced. Calligraphy, Before Sadeqain, few painters had experimented with the medium in Pakistan. Sadequain is commended for bringing calligraphy into a mainstream art form, as most of the known Pakistani artists have followed Sadequain and calligraphic art now dominates the art scene. 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. He did thousands of drawings and gave them away to his admirers. Sadequain was the most prolific painter of the post partition Pakistan. He was constantly at work and he worked on large scale. He repeatedly stated that he was not interested in decorating drawing rooms of rich and powerful. He worked on large murals for public buildings symbolic of the collective labor of humanity and his work was mostly donated to the public. Murals, Sadequain was a social commentator. 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. As a master muralist some of his works adorn the halls of: The State Bank of Pakistan (100 x 12 ft), The Power House at the Mangla Dam (200 x 30 ft), Lahore Museum, Lahore Aligarh Muslim University (70 x 12 ft), Banaras Hindu University (70 x 12 ft), and Geological Institute of India (70 x 25 ft) Frere Hall Karachi and Powerhouse at Abu Dhabi Punjab University Library