Lot 19: Bashir Mirza (Pakistan, 1941-2000) Compromise - 4,

Compromise - 4, oil on canvas, signed and dated '68 upper right, on reverse signed, titled and inscribed Pakistan, framed, 90.5 x 71.5cm (35 5/8 x 28 1/8in).

Provenance:
Private Swiss collection: acquired directly from the artist during the collectors stay in Pakistan as a Swiss diplomat in 1968.

In 1966 Bashir Mirza exhibited a collection of stark drawings and non-figurative paintings in Karachi, expressing his horror of war and its futility. The leitmotif colours of the expressionistic style were black, red and blue. The spiked black sun casting radial rays on man symbolized evil, the colour red harked back to the remembered trauma of a slaughtered pet in his childhood days and represented innocent blood needlessly spilt, the colour blue represented decay, not only of flesh but of morals and compassion...

It was impossible to ignore the strength of Bashir Mirza’s war series, it was a collection fit for a museum, had there been one to house important artwork in Pakistan at that time.

Marjorie Husain