Born in 1930 in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh, India as Syed Sadequain Ahmed Naqvi he passed away in 1987. 'Sadequain' as he was more popularly known in the art world graduated from Agra University in 1948 after which he migrated to Pakistan.
During nineteen sixties he stayed in interior Sindh in areas surrounded by desert where nothing could grow except cactus which would break through the rugged sandy ground. The sight of the wild cactus growing in scorching heat and surviving the harshest of conditions left a lasting impression on Sadequain. He adapted this symbol to depict labor, struggle, and persistence against natural elements of resistance and triumph of hard work.
Sadequain sketched numerous drawings titled Cobweb Series, Crow Series, Christ Series, Hope Series, and Sun Series during sixties, which were commentaries on prevailing social and cultural conditions. Sadequain saw cobwebs engulfing our society rendering it speechless and motionless. The Crow Series projected men as timid worshippers of scarecrows because they have lost self-respect and spirituality. Crows however are not intimidated and gang up on humanity in flocks and pick on lifeless humans. In the Christ Series Sadequain showed the crime being committed in front of the Christ while he was still alive on the Cross. Contrary to man’s images portrayed in Cobweb or Crow Series of drawings, Sadequain glorified the hard work and labor of ordinary workingmen by showing them struggling with primitive tools during the stone age, developing agricultural land, discovering scientific breakthroughs, and exploring the universe. He sometime used Kufic script to form human images and carried that theme through vast canvases. One of the representative works of this genre is titled “The Last Supper,” which was awarded the prestigious Binnale de Paris award in France.
He was a master muralist and his murals adorn the halls at State Bank of Pakistan (100 x 12 ft), Power House at the Mangla Dam (200 x 30 ft), Lahore Museum, Aligarh Muslim University (70 x 12 ft), Banaras Hindu University (70 x 12 ft), Geological Institute of India (70 x 25 ft), just to name a few.Sadequain was a social commentator. His murals generally depict man’s endless quest to discover and develop the endless potentialities that lie within him and without. The whole pageant of man’s triumphal progress, past, present and future is captured in line and color in one magnificent form. His murals are densely filled and tightly packed with images to render adequately the lofty subject. The images are not only rich in symbolic meaning but visually so much variegated that the eye travels fascinated from point to point.
Sadequain was responsible for the renaissance of Islamic Calligraphy in Pakistan. He was one of the greatest calligraphers of his time who transformed the art of calligraphy into eye-catching expressionist paintings. His calligraphy was endowed with divine inspiration giving it a dimension of space and movement. He carried the script with a flourish in all directions, giving it the power of space, vigor and volume. In Pakistan, the art of calligraphy was relegated to a second class status until Sadequain adapted this medium in the late nineteen sixties. Before that time a few painters experimented with the medium but it remained as just that, an experiment. After Sadequain transformed the art of calligraphy into a mainstream art form, most of the known Pakistani artists have followed Sadequain and calligraphic art now dominates the art scene. Sadequain also painted in bold form the poetic verses of Ghalib, Iqbal and Faiz, which illustrate his love for classical literature.
Sadequain had commanding knowledge of literature. He wrote thousands of “Rubaiyats,” which he published in several books. These verses have been adjudged unique and critically acclaimed by literary elite. Like his paintings, the verses also address the topics of human nature, virtues and weaknesses of society. He belonged to the school of thought, which enriched realism with lyricism. Sadequain.
During his life Sadequain exhibited his works on all continents. His exhibitions in foreign countries were sponsored at State levels and were attended by large audiences of all walks of life. A “faqir” at heart he gave away most of his paintings to friends and foes, and painted gigantic murals in public buildings at no cost. He declared the giveaways as gifts to the citizens of the cities where the public building were situated. Sadequain has been copied openly and widely by many painters and even the copies fetch large sums to the copiers, an irony since the artist himself hardly ever sold his works in spite of offers coming from the royals and the common public. As an example his masterpiece rendition of Sureh-e-Rehman has been copied widely by many known painters of the modern era.
Sadequain has been covered in the print and electronic media extensively such as the TV series “Mojeeza-e-Fun” which highlighted his work in a masterful documentary. “The Holy Sinner” is a book published in 2003, cataloguing a number of his paintings, which were exhibited at Mohatta Palace, Karachi during the same year.
Sadequain was awarded first prize in National Exhibition of Pakistan in early sixties. He was bestowed with several awards and medals in Pakistan as well as foreign counties. But he seldom attended the award ceremonies neither accepted the award money.
