Jamil Naqsh (b. 1938)

Acquired directly from the artist in 1998.

Good condition.
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In the early 1950s, Naqsh trained as a miniaturist at the National College of Arts, Lahore; and devoted much of his time to in-depth study with Ustaad Haji Sharif, one of the last of the old-guard miniature painters in Pakistan. While Naqsh's style and technique is decidedly Modern, his choice of subject matter often echoes the tender, genteel compositions of miniature painting.

The reclining nude is central to Naqsh's oeuvre, often a representation of the artist's companion and muse, Najma Sura. Naqsh explains: "I am a figurative painter with an Indian past. I admire the sculptures in Khajuraho, Puri and Bhubaneswar temples. As I said, I am a figurative painter doing nudes and pigeons – again the same thing. And I get the pleasure to paint and draw variation from one idea. For the last 50 years, I have been doing the same. I have never bothered to change." (Jamil Naqsh rpt. Indian Art News, Jamil Naqsh Pays Back Teacher Picasso with India Exhibit, September 12, 2008) The current work from 1997 is one of the largest known single-panel canvases created by Jamil Naqsh.