Bashir Mirza (1941-2000) Untitled (Qilash Series)

Bashir Mirza (1941-2000) Untitled (Qilash Series) signed 'Bashir Mirza '89' lower left acrylic on board, framed 120.1 x 243cm (47 5/16 x 95 11/16in). Footnotes: Provenance Property from a private collection, UAE; Acquired in Pakistan, Lahore in the early 2010s. Exhibited Dawn of Democracy Exhibition showcasing the People of Pakistan series by Bashir Mirza, 19th August 1989. Published Marjorie Husain, The Last of the Bohemians, Post Office Foundation Press, Karachi, 2006, p.183. Bashir Mirza (1941-2000)–Ever the Maverick by Salima Hashmi Known by his initials 'BM', Bashir Mirza was an irrepressible whirlwind in the art world. It was impossible to pigeonhole his multifarious talents as he constantly sought to reinvent himself— as a graphic designer, advertising man, art entrepreneur, gallerist, and artist. He was born in Amritsar, India into a family that suffered the trauma of the riots in the Punjab in 1947, moving from a well-to-do existence in an artisanal household to near penury in Lahore. BM's had a precocious gift for drawing that earned an income while he completed school, and he gained admission to the Mayo School of Art, later known as the National College of Art (NCA). He chose graphic design over fine art, to the annoyance and disappointment of the artist Shakir Ali, who was much taken with his drawing skills, but it was his superior draughtsmanship that defined his art making for most of his life. BM stood out among the students at NCA for his self-confidence and his versatility. Humming to himself, he would walk through the gates of the college with a casual swagger, a rose in the buttonhole of his kurta, leaving in his wake a whiff of attar of roses. This became a trait and hallmark of his career, as an adman and as an artist. After graduation in 1962, he moved to Karachi when Lahore proved less than conducive to his talents as a designer. Thus began his chequered and erratic, but ultimately successful, career. He found employment easily, but his inability to settle into any kind of administrative straitjacket meant these jobs were short-lived. He focused instead on his drawing and painting, working feverishly, exhibiting and selling at every opportunity. BM was quick to spot a niche in the market, turning this activity into a business enterprise. He set up the first professional private art gallery in Karachi. Known simply as 'The Gallery', it became the nucleus for other hard-pressed young artists in Karachi to congregate, engage in heated discussion, and exhibit their work. Among them were Ahmed Pervaiz, Jamil Naqsh, Mansur Aye, Ali Imam and Rasheed Arshad. This was the tentative beginning of the 'new' art milieu of Karachi. BM's work of these early years in Karachi was diverse in medium, but centred on his interest in the human body, often reflective of the financial travails he himself experienced. The armed conflict between India and Pakistan in 1965 prompted a series of macabre drawings titled Scream, alongside works on canvas he called his 'Black Paintings'—far calmer and more nuanced, crosshatched renditions of almost androgynous figures in repose. BM's mercurial artistic tendencies and energies manifested in a kaleidoscopic manner. Parallel to his series of paintings he produced a portfolio of drawings of men and women from different ethnic groups across Pakistan. Titled Portraits of Pakistan, it was brought out in 1967 with perhaps an eye on the nascent tourist trade in Pakistan. The 'hippie trail' that wound its way from Iran to Pakistan, taking in Kabul before culminating in Kathmandu, brought a large number of travellers by road from the West. BM turned to all kinds of inspiration for his artmaking, acquiring many formal artistic devices to add to his expressive repertoire. An encounter with the well-known American artist Elaine Hamilton, who introduced abstract expressionism to local artists, led BM to take note of her use of gestural mark making without a recognisable human form. A referential series of works came about after a study of Amrita Sher Gil's oeuvre—faces and earth colours expressing a 'rootedness' that he aspired to constantly. Later, he spent several weeks in the company of the Indian artist Frances Newton Souza. After observing Souza's use of acrylic paint with its fluid and convenient quick-paced style, it became BM's preferred medium. It was not long before the indefatigable BM was off in another direction. He started the magazine 'Artistic Pakistan' in 1969, only to lose interest after a few issues. His work was gaining international recognition and he was earning respect and admiration in the art world at home. But BM's disregard for convention made for a flamboyant lifestyle, and his imagery reflected his romantic interests, his rejections and disappointments. Pursuing one of his objects of affection, he suddenly took off to Germany, reportedly taking an exhibition of assorted works from Pakistan. His return to Karachi in 1971 was marked by his Lonely Girl series, exhibited at the Indus Gallery. The series is still among the most significant and sought-after of his works. In a departure from his approach to form and texture, the forceful use of line was absent, the body delicately rendered. In its place was the rendering of volume through tonal gradation of colour, nuanced and understated with just a few accents. But, predictably, BM was off in contrary direction in his next body of work which was an ode to colour abstraction, the human body only present in an oblique manner. He often referenced Sadequain's work. They shared a tendency for prolific output, but while Sadequain spurned the idea of selling his work in galleries and freely gifted his work, BM's art was purely entrepreneurial. Then, disheartened by the declaration of martial law in 1977, he withdrew his work from exhibitions. The idea of starting his own advertising agency came to him when his friends used his studio-cum-residence, Atelier BM, to shoot commercials. But even that failed to entirely harness his creative energies and he continued to paint. His focus was always on his socio-political context; poets, writers, musicians, and he was an open and avid admirer of the Bhutto family. They returned the favour when elected. Their portraits were part of an exhibition, Dawn of Democracy opened by Begum Nusrat Bhutto to much fanfare, signalling BM's return to the art world. The raw and poignant image of Begum Nusrat Bhutto, the former First Lady, immortalises the time she was beaten up by police very soon after the military takeover by Zai-ul-Haq. The original photo was quickly censored and removed from view. This was part of BM's series 'Dawn Freedom. Untitled (Qilash Series) was part of the same exhibition and it showcased BM's fascination with ethnic diversity. His ability to portray the folklore fabric in Pakistan is captured in the assured gaze of these Kalash women. By the 1990s his frenetic lifestyle and dependency on alcohol had taken its toll. He moved to Islamabad, hoping that the clean air would be restorative. His interest in nature and the immediate environment became his muse for a while. Concerned for his health, Benazir Bhutto, then Prime Minister, appointed him Pakistan's cultural attaché in Australia. If the intention was to enable him to seek medical intervention there, it was to no avail. BM remained as artistically fertile as his physical energy allowed him, but made no attempt to rein in his excesses. By 1996 he was back in Karachi, where his health declined further even as he continued to work and exhibit. He died in January 2000, a short while after his friend and classmate Zahoor ul Akhlaq For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing