THE SEARCH FOR IDENTITY IS OF MANY LAYERS:
WITHOUT NEED TO EXPLORE ALL, RELY ON ONE,
THAT DEFINES YOUR NATION AND SUPERSEDES,
YES, CHUGHTAI ART IS DEFINITELY ONLY PAKISTAN. 

After the grand founding and inauguration of Alhamra Arts Council in Lahore, the world cultural event of the Chughtai Show in 1949, when all the Ambassadors in Karachi flew to Lahore to see the same. Governor General Khawaja Nazimuddin was the Chief Guest. An event took place where Chughtai Art became a subject of discussion. Extended by his friend Dr Muhammd Din Taseer, the intellectuals of the city gathered around a gathering to discuss the same. A great event in pictorial art was led by a great event of discussion. Nobody could question the Identity of the Event. But all spoke on positive scale. No one doubted the Identity of Pakistan. 

The direction of the Ideology of Pakistan was as clear as crystal. International lobbies understood this well. There was a need to displace everything that had ideological mooring. Art was under direct scrutiny. A group of young artists were engendered, imported and forced onto the audience. Their claim was very wide. Western art was to be forced onto Pakistan by imitating it in one way or the other. Even their costumes reflected same in shape of jeans, french beards and smoking pipes. National preferences unaccounted. Modern artists wished to give modern images of themselves. Another great change was the shift of water colour painting to oil based works in Pakistan. Various artists handled it in their way, but certainly they were being patronized to upset the existing reality. The 1949 grand show of Chughtai artist upset-ed Shemza. Anwar Jalal Shemza boldly said at Alhamra that he was there to uproot Chughtai artist, and he was heard not by few, but even by my cousin, who tells me the same all the time. Although Chughtai does not take the name, an attendant (guess whom?) of a lecture, he gave at Alhamra, heckled him about his art being Indian and not Pakistani. The reply of the artist was simple, “It was Chughtai Art then, it is Chughtai Art now!”. Did they achieve their goal? They tried their best, now lobbies are trying their best for them.

One big difference between Chughtai Art and others was the fact that M.A. Rahman Chughtai was well known particularly in Muslim world of India as an exceptionally great artist.  He had a big following not only in artistic circles but was groomed famous in the public too. It can be ascertained from the fact that his news was carried by magazines, newspapers as well as films. The bizarre thing was that when the hero used to address the heroine, in praise of her he would refer to her as Chughtai Art. The most extraordinary thing was that in the Urdu lexicon the term Chughtai Art was itself synonymous with beautiful. So not only the term but the artist was well known. In fact he was so much a legend that it was often confused as to which age he was a part off. This identity naturally transformed itself as a NATIONAL IDENTITY of Muslim India. On other hand as Chughtai Art was an evolution of other arts well familiar with the masses like the Sultanate and Mughal Art. Chughtai Art was even before the birth of Pakistan termed the Identity of Pakistan. And Lahore was always the Art and Cultural Center of India. The artist always attached Lahore with his name, even in his signature. 

The idea of an Arts and Cultural centre was formed in Lahore at the house of Begum Shahnawaz. In all cases Abdur Rahman Chughtai was there. And not to miss all Arts Councils in Pakistan were a result of his thinking as well as inaugurated with Chughtai Shows. These included Lahore Arts Council, Peshawar Arts Council, Karachi Arts Council and even Dacca Arts Council. His great friend General Azam Khan was Governor of East Pakistan and Dacca Arts Council was opened with two artists Zainul Abedeen and Abdur Rahman Chughtai. In his speech General Azam Khan narrated the importance of Chughtai in the field of art in Pakistan. Today Chughtai Art is well respected in Bangladesh and geographical separation did not separate the Ideological togetherness of both wings.

Today Chughtai Art is represented all over the world. For instance there are four Chughtai works at the Pakistani desk in the US State Department. A painting at International Court of Justice Peace Palace Hague. A painting in Kennedy memorial in Boston. Museums all over the world. And they speak of the Pakistani Identity in a big way. The same way the first postal stamp of Pakistan paved the way for many others. 

Most artists require signatures and seals of authenticity. Not so for Chughtai Art. Stack a Chughtai design in a pavement of books and magazines. Display a Chughtai insignia anywhere. Stamps or on media. Hang a Chughtai art work with hundreds of others. And you can pick a Chughtai even with a blind dye. He was hesitant in putting a signature to his art. He claimed my art in itself is a signature. It is enough to be recognized. Call it Islamic Abstraction, or Pakistani Identity, or anything else. It is Chughtai and it can be recognized. And a lot of pseudo artists and critics are paved in hell with that recognition. Masters do not come after some days. As Dr Allama Iqbal said, “The flower Narcissus cries for a thousand years without light of insight; With great difficulty is born an insightful one in the garden.”