In an interview, he recognized the centrality of these forms to his work: “In the anatomy of these gigantic plants I found the essence of calligraphy. Everything that I have painted since then — a city like Rawalpindi, buildings, a forest, a boat, a table or a chair, a man, a mother and child, or a woman—has been based on calligraphy, which in itself issues from the structure of the cactus.” The transition is evident in works such as Genesis: Lady amidst Mountain Cacti (ca. 1957) , in which the woman’s face and limbs are painted in a realist manner but the landscape around her and her sari have been fractured into thorny, angular planes. [X]
The Pakistani painter Sadequain on the calligraphic roots of his paintings and the recurrence of cacti in his work. This work is Lady Amidst Mountain Cacti (~1957).
Notes: I am very uncertain about the notes for this painting – and it’s not the first time I have found auction notes suspect – looks less like Hestia with a lamp and more like a lady in a sari (albeit kind of reversed) with a batua (like a reticule).
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