Sadequain (Pakistan, 1937-1987)

Untitled (Self Portrait)

Footnotes

Sadequain
Provenance:
Gift from the artist, early 1960s
Thence by descent

"Sometime in the early '60s, my parents took their yearly home leave to Europe and the U.S. on an Italian liner from Singapore to Genoa. One of the stops made on this route was Karachi, and they met an extraordinary man who embarked from there. He was Pakistani, and dressed in the traditional white pants and shirt national costume.
For several nights after the ship left Karachi, my mother noticed that the Pakistani gentleman ate at a table by himself. My mother befriended him and invited him to join them at their table for dinners rather than eat by himself. Used to getting her way Sadequain finally gave in. I know my father enjoyed their spiritual and intellectual discourses. Sadequain spent the rest of the trip in their company every evening. My mother, apparently, often lectured Sadequain about his lifestyle and his not taking good care of himself. And apparently, he took it all very well.
Sometime around 1966, my mother received a package from Paris. Sadequain sent her a letter as well as this beautiful self-portrait of himself. In the letter, which is unfortunately lost, Sadequain thanked my mother for taking care of him, and for her kindness to him during the trip to Europe.
My mother, unaware what a celebrated artist her shipmate was, gave me this work in 1980. I have treasured it all these years for its beauty and the gesture behind this heartfelt and generous gift from an extraordinary man."
(Comments from the present owner, Esther Kofod)

Awarded the 'Laureate de Paris' at the France Biennale in 1961, Sadequain was receiving international recognition throughout the 1960s. His critical acclaim coincided with his period of particularly heightened self awareness and Sadequain produced a series of cross hatched self-portraits such as this one. Introverted and seemingly shy, Sadequain, used his critical analysis of himself to cast criticism of wider society. His elongated head nestles a crows' nest, complete with crow and chick - a hatched idea. This follows on from a similar work, featuring the crow mother and her eggs. The hatched plot appears to be socio political satire, possibly a commentary on the martial law government of Ayub Khan in the 1960s. As Sadequain himself said 'All my paintings, all my poetry is a crusade against hypocrisy.' (Hakim, R., 'Sadequain is a showman because he has something to show', The Herald, July 1985, p.113 as quoted in Sirhandi, M. N., Contemporary Painting in Pakistan, Lahore, 2006).