Jamil Naqsh (Pakistani, 1939-2019)
Portrait of Ali Imam
signed and dated 'Jamil Naqsh/12th Sept.79' lower right
watercolour on paper, framed
44.8 x 52.3cm (17 5/8 x 20 9/16in).
Footnotes:
AN IMPORTANT WORK DEPICTING ALI IMAM

Provenance
Acquired from the Indus Gallery in Karachi in the 1990s;
Sotheby's, New York 16/03/17 Lot 151;
Acquired by the vendor from the above.

Exhibited
Pasadena, California, Pacific Asia Museum, A Selection of Contemporary Paintings from Pakistan, 1994

Literature
M.N. Sirhandi, A Selection of Contemporary Paintings from Pakistan, by D. Kamansky, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California, illustration p. 91

Collectors of Naqsh's paintings will be familiar with his skilful representations of nudes, pigeons and horses. He was a prolific artist whose works continue to be admired and sold. To see examples of his works sold in these rooms, see Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, London, 11th June 2020, lot 249 and Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art & Art of Pakistan, London, 24th October 2018, lot 123.

What however, is not well known is that away from the emphasis on voluptuous nudes and preening pigeons, Naqsh created a corpus of work that focused away from his usual norm. This included male nudes and an acknowledgement of his debt to individuals who had helped him along the way. The work on offer in this auction is one such rare work and pays homage to Ali Imam, the pioneering gallerist in Pakistan who established Indus Gallery in Karachi in 1971 and who was instrumental in patronizing and promoting an entire generation of Pakistani artists amongst them Ahmed Parvez and Bashir Mirza.

Ali Imam was the older brother of Syed Haider Raza, the renowned Indian painter (1922-2016); while both were born in India, both brothers left India shortly after independence, Ali to Pakistan in 1949 and Haider for France in 1950.
Besides being a gallerist, Ali Imam was a painter in his own right and his works have been sold in these rooms. To see a recent example see Bonhams, Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art, London, 24th May 2022, lot 53.

This painting is a tribute by Naqsh to Ali Imam for the gallerist's help in recognizing his skill early on and helping him establish himself in the Pakistani art scene. Imam's posture is reminiscent of Adam in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam and illustrates the importance of Imam in Naqsh's life.
Painted after Imam's open heart surgery, it documents a period in the history of Pakistan when the patronage of art was being accepted as a civilizing aspect in the country's consciousness.