Footnotes

Provenance
Property from a private collection, Pakistan.
Acquired from Albemarle Gallery in 2017.
Property from a private collection, Austria.
Acquired from Bonhams, Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art Online, 21st July - 8th August 2023, lot 2.

Exhibited
Albermarle Gallery, Jamil Naqsh, The Painted Word, 4th July-31st August 2013, London.

Published
Albermarle Gallery, Jamil Naqsh: The Painted Word, 2013, p. 177

This rare and exquisite oil on canvas comes from Naqsh's 2013 body of works, where he departed from his quintessential style of figurative paintings, depicting the woman and bird, and instead produced a series of calligraphic works that were intended to be the largest group produced by one artist in the history of the genre. Comprising over 400 paintings, they were Naqsh's personal interpretation of the Arabic script and are predominantly bold, abstract, and imbued with vibrant colour and texture.

As part of this collection, Naqsh created a series depicting the 99 names of Allah, and another illustrating several Surahs. In the present lot, we can see that Naqsh drew inspiration from different calligraphic sources and epochs such as square Kufic, but the work is distinctly an abstract composition. There is a rhythm and shape to the structure of the calligraphy and composition which invites appreciation. The fluid geometric shapes in the background are juxtaposed with the sharp and cutting calligraphy in the foreground. The calligraphy is outlined in pen, with substantial negative space and yet appears to be jumping out of the canvas. Moreover, it looks to be intertwined with the calligraphy in brown on the upper left, but both have a distinct style. There is a clear bridging and melding of artistic traditions and practises found in the East and West, and this work illustrates Naqsh's ability to respect and showcase the best of both.