Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
Shakir Ali, called the father of modernism in Pakistan, introduced Cubist style abstraction to the Lahore art community shortly after he joined the National College of Arts (NCA) in 1952. Having graduated from the JJ School of Art in Bombay and the Slade School of Art in London, Shakir’s mid century milieu drew from both his South Asian and European experience. His apprenticeship in France with Andre Lhote, an acolyte of Picasso, features most prominently in his compositions featuring generic nudes, birds and leaves. By the time he became the first non-European principal of the NCA, his Cubist style had spread across Pakistan.