Zubeida Agha (Pakistani, 1922-1997)
Female Composition
signed 'Z. Agha Dec '45' lower right; further inscribed 'Female Composition'/ 1945 / Ms Hameeda Khan on the reverse
oil on canvas, framed
65.4 x 80.2cm (25 3/4 x 31 9/16in).
Footnotes:
Provenance
Property from a private collection, Pakistan.
Acquired from the artist.

The Collection of Imran R. Sheikh; family of the artist.

Published
Musarrat Hasan, Zubeida Agha: A Pioneer of Modern Art in Pakistan, 2004, p.31, Illustration. 8.

There is a label on the reverse with the title of the picture, competition number, medium, price and name and address of the artist.

2022 marked Zubeida Agha's birth centenary and it is fitting that the grand dame of Pakistani Art was the first artist in 1949 to hold a solo exhibition of modern art in newly formed Pakistan. Born in Faisalabad in 1922, she obtained her degrees in philosophy and political science at Kinnaird College, Lahore after which she pursued art at the Lahore School of Fine Art. Here, she was introduced to Western art, specifically that of Pablo Picasso, which would have a profound effect on her works.

Composition, painted in 1945, the year Pakistan was born, is one of her early works and is a fine example of the amalgamation of experiences and ideas that influenced her. She married abstraction with rich colours and focussed on painting the conceptual, to evoke the viewers emotions. Composition has not entirely given way to abstraction and elements of figuration are visible on closer inspection. There appear to be eight females, all wearing hijabs who are inexplicably intertwined in a dance of sorts. They are conversing with each other, in two groups perhaps and completely engrossed in their respective conversations. There is a rhythm to the composition, and the complementary colours capture the mood of her subjects. Structurally, the work illustrates Agha's ability to respect and enhance the two-dimensionality of the canvas and despite the absence of depth, the tonal gradations and sophisticated brush strokes imply a continuity to the group of women, beyond the limits of the canvas.

To see a similar work sold at Sotheby's dating from 1946, see Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art, New York, 20th March 2023, lot 67.
This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: *
* VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.

Overall in good condition. No tears or scratches. There are marks in the upper left quadrant which is where paint has been taken off. There is a mark in the centre of the canvas, which appears to be where a piece of paint has fallen off. There is craquelure to the right side of the painting, noticeably to the woman wearing the yellow clothing and in the clothing of the three women immediately to her right. The colours of the original are slightly less saturated than those in the catalogue and online illustrations.