Ahmed Parvez (Pakistani, 1926-1979)
Untitled (Vase)
signed and dated Ahmed Parvez '75 lower right
oil on canvas, framed
90.2 x 69.5cm (35 1/2 x 27 3/8in).
Footnotes:
Provenance
Gifted by the artist to his Brother-in-law, Mr Dilshad Najmuddin;
Acquired by the vendor from the above in 2019.

Parvez was a member of the Lahore Art Circle, Pakistan and the founder of the Pakistan Group in London. Despite coming from a family drawn to artistic pursuits; his sister Naz wrote poetry, his grandfather was an architect and his uncle Michael Jacobs had an art studio in Lahore, Parvez was discouraged from pursuing the same path. After a short employment stint, he dedicated himself to art and commenced his artistic training in the European academic style at his uncle's studio in Lahore. He subsequently left for London, where he gained critical acclaim with multiple solo shows, then returned to Pakistan, before leaving for New York and then finally settling in Pakistan.

Known for being mercurial, his works often mirrored his state. Often chaotic and irrational, his early works, abstracts, included elements that appeared to be cluttered explosions, albeit vibrant. His works were eccentric, and he found that line and colour could be deployed to demonstrate inner compulsions and passions. In later works such as Untitled (Crucifixion II), 1974 (Akbar Naqvi, Image and Identity, 1998 p. 322, fig. 102) he repeated characteristic elements such as the hook, dots, splashes and worm like forms. The painting in the present lot, made towards the end of his life not only marries all these key motifs but also includes the vase, the icon of the home, which he longed for until the end of his life having seen his parents marriage deteriorate and having multiple failed marriages himself. He painted works with vases in the 70s in the hope of a home and domesticity, security and unconditional love, something he knew was out of reach. He died a few years later, having received the Pride of Performance Award by the Government of Pakistan in 1978.