A SERIES OF EXPOSition OF CHUGHTAI ART;
FOR THOSE WHOSE EYES AND PERCEPTIONS;
LOST IN TIME WITH TOTAL BIGOTRY OF RACISM..

The exposure of Chughtai Art on the Indian scene came with the printing of the 1916 work, in “Modern review” in January and February, 1917. We still have it. The work PASSING OF SHAH JAHAN in 1918 had broken all records And then there was the exhibition at Lahore Museum in 1920, and with all the other Indian Masters there, all the works of M.A. Rahman Chughtai were not only appreciated but also sold. It led to bigger things like the publication of MURAQQA in 1928. The rest is art history.

A lot of Indian art critics were famous for writing their bullshit about him, but those are forgotten in history. After partition a new wave of ignoramus critics were created, who found fault in everything. To the extent that they were blinded with fury of racial hatred, and promoted by lobbies to undo our ideological content.  The division of Lahore and Karachi was created when the capital moved from Karachi to Islamabad. A wave of anti Pakistani lobbies were created in Lahore, but here they could not do much. Criitics like Dr M.D. Taseer, Malik Shamas, and Dr Abdullah Chaghatai, were here to disband them.  They moved to Karachi. Karachi the capital of Pakistan supported Abdur Rahman Chughtai and his art, at that time. To the extent that Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan called him the National artist of Pakistan. The Lahore group moved to Kaerachi included Ali Imam, who opened a gallery there. Ali Imam spun his own stories. The modern artist, turned  critic, was busy smoking his pipe, in a French beard and in his blue jeans, he cast aspersions on the artist. One sees ridiculous copies of Chughtai being endorsed by him.  In the end he did start seeing originals, but casting doubt on them was his forte.  It is said that final years, his perceptions cleared too. Then there were persons like Dr Akbar Naqvi , the Beatles boy from Liverpool, and Patna, considered Chughtai as irrelevant after partition. Then he stooped so low that in an article in Dawn, he criticized our presentation of the magnum opus Amal e  Chughtai, to loved and respected ones on behalf of the late artist, as an act of desperation, for there were no buyers of the book. So being given free. It is perhaps the most valuable book created in Pakistan. Was it a deliberate act or was he really ignoramus? And who rose his pedestal to being doyen of art criticism. In fact most of these people had no idea of  Chughtai, as they had no chance to see Chughtai Art, nor did they make efforts for same. I invited Dr Akbar Naqvi to visit us and get acquainted with Chughtai Art. A saying comes in mind from our culture, “Put a load of books on a donkey, and the donkey remains a donkey”. I Hope it was  not true for these people.I made this offer to many others.  In London a lot of forgeries passed through the auction houses, mostly made by a Karachi maverick artist, as well as by a Christian advertising artist, where both innovated methods that would perplex people.  And no ability to understand the intricacy technique and symbolism of Chughtai art. One wonders if it is individual racism or lobbies undermining the fear of ideological strength of the artist. The famous critic Basil Gray in a confession in 1977, blamed it on British lobbies in perceived threat of ideology. Eventually everything gets exposed with time. Basil Gray wrote the article on Chughtai, which we published many times. Another person Dr Marcella Nesom Sirhindi, did write a sentence, which we can quote here:

“The art of A.R. Chughtai must be recognized as the earliest and truest form of national expression. Chughtai use of colour, skill  as a draftsman, originality, imagination, and sense of humour (in his art) have yet to be equalled in Pakistan.  Ohio, 1992.  

Enjoy our first presentation of pencil sketches of Abdur Rahman Chughtai. Seen by thousands here. Critics do not have time to see original art, but rely on misgot perceptions to generate their attempt to spit on the moon, and the spit falls on them. Enjoy!