M.A. RAHMAN CHUGHTAI AND THE CHUGHTAI SCHOOL OF ART – NOT TRADITIONAL, NOT MODERN: JUST PURE CHUGHTAI ART

M.A. RAHMAN CHUGHTAI AND THE CHUGHTAI SCHOOL OF ART
NOT TRADITIONAL, NOT MODERN: JUST PURE CHUGHTAI ART

A dictionary defines the word ‘Modernism’ in this particular way:

“Modernism was a movement in the arts in the first half of the twentieth century that rejected traditional values and techniques, and emphasized the importance of individual experience.”

In this way it is clear that Modern Art was termed as Art done from 1900 to 1950, that rejected TRADITIONAL VALUES AND TECHNIQUES and spoke of a NEW EXPERIENCE. M.A. Rahman Chughtai, National Painter of Pakistan, and Modern Master of Islamic Civilization belongs to this particular period of time. The techniques used in painting before him were related to Oil Painting or Tempera painting. Both these techniques he rejected and evolved a new technique of his own, which was a amalgam of traditional Mughal techniques of painting with Japanese Water Colour Wash method. And the fresh innovation of the technique was all of his own making.

To-The-Well

Working on various subjects beyond time value, he emphasized ideas from past, present and future and presented his own experience of them. As the great Islamic art scholar, Basil Gray wrote:

“By his natural gift for colour harmony and for sensitive and lively line assiduously developed, Chughtai was enabled to achieve a personal style which at the same time appeared like a fresh blossom grafted into an old stock, and thus at the same time both old and new.”

Simone Wille, a scholar working on ‘Modern Art in Pakistan’, has this to say about M.A. Rahman Chughtai:

“The South Asian Muslim artist Abdur Rahman Chughtai (1897-1975) and his contribution to modernity are significant for Pakistan’s art history, since Chughtai was the first artist to anticipate a Muslim cultural position located in Lahore, as opposed to a nascent Hindu and national art promoted by the Bengal School.”

Girl-in-Blue

In Pakistan nincompoop analysts and critics dismiss Chughtai as a Traditional painter. People who really know how to dissect art knows that this is not the case with him. He is totally new in his ideas, technique and working, and that is why his art is known as the CHUGHTAI SCHOOL OF ART and nothing else matters. Pakistan has not evolved art critics with capability of looking at the finer points of art. Art gimmickry abounds here and we write about it all the time. Gimmicks do not make great art at any time! Modern art in Pakistan is just copy masters of Western art and poor copy makers of all times. Without any Ideology, they float on funds provided by foreign masters. And sink in the anarchy of thoughtlessness without any feelings.

YES, THE GOSPEL OF DEMOCRACY IS SLOWLY BEING SHATTERED – THE BEST OF DEMOCRATIC NATIONS BRINGING UP NINCOMPOOPS

YES, THE GOSPEL OF DEMOCRACY IS SLOWLY BEING SHATTERED,
THE BEST OF DEMOCRATIC NATIONS BRINGING UP NINCOMPOOPS

Towards-Pakistan

The Judea-Christian-Muslim traditions rocked the world with an Ideology of its own. No one can question cardinal principles like Prophet Moses Ten Commandments. Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) spoke of the brotherhood of humanity in his last sermon. The moral values generated are beyond question by any lobby. We all knew that the gospel of democracy was wrong. It divided the nation, not unified it in whole. For us quality mattered over quantity. If there was democracy in Arab world when the Prophets came, they would have rejected all the Prophets. But the Prophets (PBU them) prevailed with their Divine messages. In Pakistan Quaid e Azam prevailed finally for he was a beacon of truth and dedication. Democracy which should have brought the best out in Pakistan, brought out the worst of us. The chorus of democracy always goes on that finally democracy will mature into something great. Look at the greatest democracy of the world and you will see the same repetition of things. The worst of that world is leading an Ideological state. The Western world is facing the failure of democracy everywhere. And they have not come to grip with the realization of a failing system.

Will-and-Power

The quality of leadership matters. People who lead nations matter most. Constitutional legislation should guarantee character of people in power. We hear of sections 62 and 63 all the time. But the same were never implemented! Quality matters not quantity. There are morons and then there are so called intellectual morons (you would have heard of evil geniuses but not these). You see them hanging with their sullen faces outside Press Clubs with spectacles of other civilizations. Their retinas do not focus on their own Ideology for they themselves have none except acquisition of resources from outside lobbies. It disgusts the people of Pakistan. Dacoits reigning the country and intellectual morons defending them. The transition is inevitable. But will it be smooth or will it rock us like nothing else. The earthquake of politics is taking its toil. It is time sanity prevails otherwise the anarchy and chaos will shatter us! It is time for the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take the next rational step of Section 190 for the welfare of the country. Restore us, restore Pakistan and move forward!

Call-to-Prayer

ONE ALLAH, ONE PROPHET (PBUH), ONE NATION – UNIQUENESS OF PAKISTAN IN NATIONAL POLITY

ONE ALLAH, ONE PROPHET (PBUH), ONE NATION
UNIQUENESS OF PAKISTAN IN NATIONAL POLITY

Asma-Husna-by-Miran-Baksh-Naqash-Lahori

The Muslims entered the region of Hindustan, with their Identity but were in no mood to destroy the Identity of others in this region. Contrary to popular perception, they tried their best to enlist regional inhabitants in the power of things, as there was no need to let people fight with each other. The Britishers on other hand were limited in number and for survival had to devise the DIVIDE AND RULE policy on their own. When Pakistan became independent, 97 percent of the people were like each other, with:
ONE ALLAH;
ONE PROPHET (PBUH);
ONE BELIEF OF QURAN (based on common principles).

In the tradition of the British Masters, the new politicians continued this Divide and Rule policy for their own benefit. Breaking up of ONE UNIT was one of their very first step. And then forcibly separating East Pakistan from the West wing. Can Princess Hasina Wajid end Muslim nationhood in Bengla desh? The volcano of Muslim nationhood in East Pakistan is bursting at its seams and in near future, you will find RAW being undone there on its own. How will Mukhi Bahinis disguise themselves now? Pakistani soldiers no longer there. But the spirit of Islam is very much there in our brethren there. Can all the Muslims in Bengla Desh be massacred? Only a tea stall vendor can think on such terms. Fish eating Bengla deshi have a very high IQ and EQ in that country. The ordinary people were swept away by propaganda once, no more is the case.

Smile when you can

Take a group of despicable politicians aside and the whole nation will still unite as one. Who will bell the cat? Our reborn judiciary is doing a splendid job of cleansing spots and dust from the national realm. Rise Pakistan, Rise! The time of Shahadat has come!

A pathetic death of Sheikh Mujeeb ur Rahman
Indira Gandhis death

AN EARTHQUAKE DEVASTATION IN LAHORE 1905 – AS DEADLY AS THE QUETTA EARTHQUAKE OF 1904

AN EARTHQUAKE DEVASTATION IN LAHORE 1905
AS DEADLY AS THE QUETTA EARTHQUAKE OF 1904
No one remembers today of qiamat in city

Earthquake-in-Lahore-1905

A magazine in London carried the news of the Earthquake in Lahore on 4th April. The magazine is dated 1905, the earthquake could have been earlier. Maybe 1905 is also possible. We have no access to detailed record. Suffice that the event was important enough to be a news item in England of that time. That besides photographs of the devastation, even paintings were made with the Wazeer Khan Mosque in the background. Keeping the history of Lahore alive is one thing. Imagining the terror of those days is another. Lahore has certainly been a witness to the strangest things possible. This was certainly one of those terrible events.

Devastation-in-Lahore-1905

Our people are superstitious and feel that the wrath of Allah is upon them. The Universe regulates itself all the time. Earthquakes are a balance between shifting times.

The sad part is that to this day here is no Rapid Response Team in Pakistan to such catastrophes. They happen all the time, the Army comes in, the political leadership talks loud, go for photo sessions but COMPASSION none for victims. Only people care for people. The grand part is that the public is always saved by the public, no one in command. The Government sits idle in the true way of NERO FIDDLING WHILE ROME BURNT. Today Pakistan is burning in the hands of nincompoops of our times.

Earthquake in Lahore 1905

OFF SHOOTS OF BACCHUS AND FORMULAS OF REVELRY MAKING US FEEL ASHAMED OF OUR OWN VALUES OF MODESTY AND VIRGINITY

OFF SHOOTS OF BACCHUS AND FORMULAS OF REVELRY MAKING US
FEEL ASHAMED OF OUR OWN VALUES OF MODESTY AND VIRGINITY

Bacchus revelry

It has become disgusting. The international imagery of today’s Bacchus and his ideas of drinking and partying. Jumping up and down, lots of girls and boys indulging in poltergeist situation. Acrobatics as dance. The height of some one far ahead of others by moving upside down on his back or even on one hand. Drinking your heart out, and hunting for seduction without remorse. Many surveys are carried out as to how the media teaches you immodesty as a favourable behaviour. How teen boys and girls are made to loose their virginity and to revel in its ecstasy. No account is taken of heart breaks, tears and stress young teenagers accost on their way. Statistics of how many lovers a young man or a woman has even before attaining puberty is shocking and indeed disgusting for humanity. And the Devil’s lobby keep on stressing us the thrill of it.

Break dancing as a wish

The most beautiful relation between a man and a woman is traumatized. Belittled. As an everyday thing without remorse, without morals, without ethics. Love has been degraded through the years by referring to it as a second hand emotion, “What love has got to do with it?” Beautiful love songs were routine a couple of decades back, now the shout is about “Be mine tonight!”, not even a one night stand, but a partying to share in a group adventure, without guilt of any kind. An American friend shared the misery of her daughter and two friends dead drunk on the floor, and her divorce from her husband who would not tolerate that. Broken homes, broken ideals!

Ridiculing virginity

The evolution of human kind brought in strange physical developments. We are told that when the physical evolution stopped, the creative evolution started in depth. Henri Bergson taught us that long ago. But God teaches us morality in God’s particularly own ways. Have you ever thought that the female human species is the only living organism which carry something like a vaginal hymen. The great anthropologist Theo Lang writes:

“The hymen, nevertheless, is something of a mystery. Actually the hymen is a distinctively human characteristic, non-existent even in anthropoid apes”.

Amazing is it not! No other living thing has something analogous to a hymen. Where did it come from in human evolution? Here the direct hand of God is evident. When God preached us Modesty and Virginity, God also ensured us certificates of same. The hymen indeed is a divine creation like no others. A test of our life. Theo writes further:

Mocking virginity

“Thus the hymen has become integral to our concept of a state which is near to sacred. Just as the word ‘virgin’ also represents to us untouched, unsullied, unexplored and untilled territories or thoughts or materials, virginity has assumed also an aura of sanctity. The Virgins immaculate conception is one of the most treasured legends of all time. Tristan, the perfect Knight, and Yseult lying side by side with a sword between them represent an ideal of noble chastity.”

In our culture the word “IZZAT”is used in an extensive way. To lose ones ‘izzat’ is a blot to ones life. And here the Devil’s advocate is to throw same at first instance to Bacchus and his leopards party having fun. What is our definition of fun? A moment or a life time of positive energy. Stop getting on the band wagon of Western culture. Girls and boys running on some sea shore, in a tryst of some cold drink. It is not us. Take pride in being a Muslim, a Pakistani Muslim. For us Modesty and Virginity are sacred to our esteem of womanhood. Be a proud Muslim. Believe in the Laws of Allah!

WHO RAVES AGAINST PAKISTAN AND PAKISTAN ARMY? BROKEN HOMES, INSECURITY, AND MOST OF ALL GREED.

WHO RAVES AGAINST PAKISTAN AND PAKISTAN ARMY?
BROKEN HOMES, INSECURITY, AND MOST OF ALL GREED.

Background of a broken home

We grew up in a house where Pakistan was the most cherished word. Through thick and thin, our family braved all storms. Although most of our family was Lahore based, there were family members stranded in Amritsar. In a jeep and five armed guards, a saviour brought some members back to Lahore. On the way they could see all kind of bodies butchered by the malignancy of people on the other side. Stories are being spun today to change the narrative of partition. All hogwash!

A study was done to understand the behavioural patterns of those who rave against our country, our Ideology as well as our valiant Pak Army. And indeed it was surprising. We found a couple talking bullshit on the media all the time had a past of a broken home and childhood insecurity to the full. Now greed was compensating for their childhood grievances and they were being amply rewqrded by foreign lobbies to spin the narrative. Utter shame on part of nincompoops!

Broken home

The real fact is that Pakistan and the Pakistani Ideology has survived 70 years through the efforts of our Pak Army. However much you may belittle the many Martial laws, REAL PROGRESS IN PAKISTAN WAS ACHIEVED THROUGH THE EFFORTS DONE IN THOSE PERIOD OF TIME. The contributions of Field Marshal Ayub Khan are a record to this day. They believed in the sanctity of Pakistan and its Ideology and most of all they believed in the welfare of the people of Pakistan. Trucks still carry pictures of President Ayub Khan, for those ordinary people know the achievements of those regimes. What is forgotten is that the Army does not rise through rigged elections, they rise from every nook and corner of Pakistan, through a pure merit system and they from day one, are inculcated love for Pakistan. The kind of democratic representation as in Army is in no where else. So if your grandfather and grandmother had a bad time in life and had a broken home, there is no reason to break the home of Pakistan. Make your home stronger, for there is no other home for us. We live and we die here! And Allah watches us all the time.

FRIENDSHIPS WITH ALL BUT IDEOLOGUE LEAVING FOR NONE – RISE PAKISTAN RISE AGAINST INTERNAL ENEMIES FIRST OF ALL

FRIENDSHIPS WITH ALL BUT IDEOLOGUE LEAVING FOR NONE
RISE PAKISTAN RISE AGAINST INTERNAL ENEMIES FIRST OF ALL

Zindabad

Reassure yourself every day. The enemy without is not as dangerous as the enemy within. You have to have full faith that we will restore Pakistan from the viruses of internal enemies. Spoiling the exuberance of our younger generations with innuendos, the mischief will fail in the end as exposures begin of reasons behind the charade. Remember the whole world is in anarchy now, spreading hatred and committing sins to deface Islamic values of peace and love. Do not trust the Mullah in what he says, nor trust the Secular. Both are two sides of same coin, in spreading unrest in country. Your heroes are Dr Allama Iqbal and Quaid-e-Azam, no one else can take their place.

Full Faith

Keep your vision clear., Do not look at Pakistan with the spectacle of foreigners eyes. You can see things clearly yourself. There is envy in the world why Pakistan has not fallen yet. It will not fall. In its struggle it has you, the bastion of Islam in the world.

Ideology

LIONEL HEATH AND THE HONOURABLE MEN AT MAYO SCHOOL OF ARTS – IRRITATIONS, RESIGNATION AND INDIGNATION SURROUNDING ARTIST

LIONEL HEATH AND THE HONOURABLE MEN AT MAYO SCHOOL OF ARTS
IRRITATIONS, RESIGNATION AND INDIGNATION SURROUNDING ARTIST

STORY OF M.A. RAHMAN CHUGHTAI AND JEALOUSY

Lionel Heath and Rahman Chughtai

Not everything in sequence is recorded but M.A. Rahman Chughtai passed his Secondary Certificate Examination from the Railway Technical School Lahore in 1911. In 1913 he was married to Wazeer un nisa Begum, a relative of his family. In this period he was also experimenting with professions. Because of the death of his father in 1913, and no other possibility of earning, the three brothers opened a Fire wood shop inside Yakki Gate Lahore. Master Miran Baksh cajoled M. A. Rahman Chughtai in completing his education and the artist enlisted at Mayo School of Arts to learn photo lithography. This was related to his profession of photography, making portraits of well known people at that time. His desire to illuminate cards and books and facilitate publishing as a designer. After taking the two year course of Photo lithography, he enlisted in the department itself as a teacher. He was soon heading the department itself, for Master Feroze uddin was perhaps promoted to other ranks. In 1915 he was certainly part of the staff of Mayo School of Arts. He was sent to Gujranwala Mission School on deputation. From there he returned, to be able to teach in Lahore. He was sent as a Drawing Master to Government Education College, Lahore. Then back to school. That is when he went on a Sick leave.

There were those who envied him on his rise and his success. When on sick leave, colleagues reported to Lionel Heath, that M.A. Rahman Chughtai was malingering and was seen watching a Drama at a theater in Bhatti Gate, the very night. Lionel Heath summoned Chughtai for an explanation. He said an honourable man had seen you at a drama yesterday while you were on sick leave. This perturbed Chughtai so much, that he immediately retorted to the Principle of Mayo School, that whereas an honourable man had reported he was at a theater that night, that meant that he himself had no honour. Lionel Heath was surprised all the more when this young man tendered his resignation in front of the strong English administrator. The surprised Lionel Heath requested that Chughtai should not leave the school as he had the potential to become the Principal one day. But of no avail to the artist, who had felt slighted by the accusation.

M.A.R. Chughtai Letter Dec. 1929 (NCA ARCHIVES)_

Strangely the principal ship of Mayo School of Arts was offered to Chughtai three times in his later life but he never accepted, and a fact that he never walked inside the Mayo School of Arts ever again. Lionel Heath had written well of the artist in the 1924 Wembley Show and later on kept in touch with his progress in the art world. A letter written by MARC s in the archives of NCA. It seems that the artist sent a copy of Murraqqa Chughtai to Lionel Heath in 1929. Interesting record of an event noticed by art history.

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EAST AND WEST – CONTRASTING REPULSION AND LOVE OF PIGS

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EAST AND WEST
CONTRASTING REPULSION AND LOVE OF PIGS

Pigs

There are thing which are same in all cultures and there are things which are in sharp contrast with each other. Allah has declared a PIG as a filthy animal and has made it mandatory for all Muslims not to eat the flesh of a pig. In the Western world we see pigs being eaten all the time and their flesh is relished as a delicacy. An animal who eats its own poop. Science has proven beyond doubt that the flesh of a pig is most prone to bacterial invasion and is not a proper flesh to partake. And yet that community refuses to accept scientific proof and do not stop having pig flesh in their daily meat.

Pigs as romantics
Petuna Pig
Porky pig

And the Muslims are not alone in this prohibition. Our Jew brethren are equally in league with us on this aspect of life. The Pig stands as HARAM to us as well as the Jews. Equally important is that we Muslims do not partake blood in our food as it is considered harmful to us. That is the concept of butchering an animal so that the blood is oozed out of the same. NO PIG, NO BLOOD. Pretty sane advice.

Unfortunately sanity does not prevail in this world!

Pigs for comics
Pig as a work of art

AN INSCRIPTION OF PERIOD OF RAJA JAYAPALA OF UDABHANDAPURA (HUND) – PERHAPS THIS LAHORE WAS NEVER EVEN THEIR DOMAIN AS ONE EXISTS THERE

AN INSCRIPTION OF PERIOD OF RAJA JAYAPALA OF UDABHANDAPURA (HUND)
PERHAPS THIS LAHORE WAS NEVER EVEN THEIR DOMAIN AS ONE EXISTS THERE

Inscription of Raja Jayapala Deva

The suicide Raja Jayapala is supposedly attached to Lahore. We have read local writers spin their tales about Jayapala, and his escape from the gutter of Mori Gate, Lahore. We could die laughing at this nincompoops, who do not know that Lahore as it is now never existed in the time of the Ghazanavids. This is Akbar’s Lahore. And these are Gates of Akbari period. Mori Gate is a Mughal period thing. The Ghaznavid Lahore was inside the city related to the Old Fort of Lahore (not this one), and that center is actually the area which includes Machi Hatta, Shah-almi (Mughal name), Kashmeeri Bazaar, Chabuk Sawaran, Chowk Wazeer Khan, Buzurg Shah de galli, etc. All these areas include old remains of Pre-Mughal period. The relic of Ganj-Shaheedan, the Generals and warriors who died defending the city is in Mohalla Sadhuan. Also at other places.

Ghazanavid palace 5

Dr Abdur Rahman is indeed a great scholar and dedicated to the task of Lahore. Perhaps only three inscriptions of 1000 years old are known of Jayapala period. And all of them are not known to exist, or to be in existence where? Even this one was discovered by Dr Abdur Rahman in photograph only. Its whereabouts are unknown. But it tells a tale. The writer is CANGULA, grandson of Secretary PADHIDA, son of PANGULA. Cangula talks of the kingdom of Jayapala, and the period is from 964 AD to 1002 AD. The greatest valour of Lahore is around 1050 AD and we will talk about it in another blog. Compare the aesthetics of this inscription with one of the period of Sultan Mahmood, and the difference is crystal clear. Till then, enjoy!