Lot 248: ZAHOOR UL AKHLAQ (1941-1999)

ZAHOOR UL AKHLAQ (1941-1999)
Untitled
Acrylic on canvas
43¾ x 63 in. (111.1 x 160 cm.)
Painted in 1993

Ankara, Museum of Painting and Sculpture, Zahoor ul Akhlaq, 1993

Collection of Sheherezade Alam and Nurjahan Akhlaq

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This work was painted while the artist lived in Ankara, Turkey where he was a visiting professor and lecturer at Bilkent University. Akhlaq was intrigued by the heritage of the region and visual culture of Anatolia. In this work, the formal and spatial deconstruction of the Neo-miniature that Akhlaq pioneered is evident. Along with the fine brush technique that has been compared to the par dokht of miniature paintings, one can distinguish a mountain landscape with a figure in the foreground, looking out. The figure is reminiscent of small figurines displayed in the Anatolian Museum of Ancient Civilization. The work invokes both the figurative and the abstract by serving as an a homage to the strict Modernism in which he was versed along with his admiration for folk and vernacular traditions.