THE INFILITRATION OF CHUGHTAI ART
IN ORDINARY LIFE OF PAKISTAN

Many miss the point of aesthetics

The aim of M.A. Rahman Chughtai was to create a National Identity. For this identity, he did not merely desire the recourse of exclusive exhibition shows for the elite of the society. He wanted to create an ideological movement. That is why we see Chughtai Art in the 1950s and 1960s sweeping everywhere. Every national emblem or insignia, he contributed a design. To the designs which repulsed him, he offered suggestions to people in power. This is theme of another blog but suffice to say that he tried his best to inculcate a timeless quality about our aesthetics.

In those times most of the literary work created by our great writers had the design on the cover by M.A. Rahman Chughtai. These dustcovers are a phenomena on themselves and there must have been hundreds of them all over the region. The museum has archived nearly 200 images of such jacket design for the record.

In cinemas in Karachi as well as Delhi, commercial painters painted Chughtai’s works on the huge walls of the theatre. We used to be so impressed with seeing these and many movie goers of Karachi would recall this well. But the latest is an image of Chughtai Art on the sale of CONTRACEPTIVES in Pakistan. This is really new. We were not asked for same but we did notice this use, and we thought we like to share it with our art lovers. The Art of Chughtai is ingrained in us for all times.