Revision as of 21:14, 6 May 2018

Naseem Hafiz Qazi: the person

I

GENi

Birthdate: October 13, 1928

Death: January 25, 1994

Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan

Place of Burial: Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

Daughter of Qazi Hafeezuddin and Private

Sister of Private; Private; Private; Private and Iftikhar uddin Qazi

Half sister of Iqbal Begum

Occupation: Artist & Professor

Managed by: Samir Riaz Qazi

II

Art Spak

Naseem Hafeez Qazi

(1928, Wazirabad. January 1995)

Educated at St. Christopher's School, Quetta.

She obtained her Intermediate and B.A. degree from Lahore College for women and joined the University department of the fine arts in 1945. She obtained her postgraduate diploma in fine arts in 1950. The same year she officiated as lecturerin art, Lady Maclagen Training College, Lahore and then went in 1951 to teach drawing to Matriculates at Peshawar.

Sketch Club instructress for the American Embassy Karachi, 1952; gained the University Shield for Women in the All Punjab Art Exhibition 1952; a prize-winner at the International Women's Art Exhibition Karachi 1954. Appointed lecturer in art, Government College for Women, Lyallpur (Faisalabad) 1954; lecturer in art Lahore College for Women 1955. M.A. fine arts 1956 standing first class first and receiving a gold medal.

Proceeded to study at La Escuela Royal de Bellas Arts de San Fumondo, Madrid, Spain 1957. She retired as Head of department, Lahore College of Women, 1990.

Her art

A fitting tribute

By Bibigul

Dawn

The fallen letter, 1978, oil on cotton canvas by Naseem Hafiz Qazi

A much due, but fitting tribute was paid to one of the country’s most prolific female artists of yesteryear, Naseem Hafiz Qazi when an exhibition of her work titled ‘Rediscovering Naseem Hafiz Qazi’ was mounted at the Alhamra Art Galleries in Lahore by the Lahore College for Women University and the Lahore Art Council and later at the National Art Gallery, Islamabad.

Popularly known as ‘Miss Qazi’ (1928-1994), she was a colleague of Colin David, Anna Molka Ahmed and Khalid Iqbal and many art students remember her at the evening classes in the small shed on the premises of the Lahore Arts Council. In the ’50s and ’60s, female painters from the fine arts departments of the University of Punjab and Lahore College for Women were intensely inspired by the impressionists; from academic discussions, to the way they composed their figures on canvas or on board, the colour modulations in light and the shadows and the academic approach to still life or landscape. The popular medium used was either oil paints or watercolours and sculpture would be relief, or a bust in the round modelled in clay and cast in plaster of Paris. Consequently the display at the Alhamra comprised all of the above.

In Qazi’s oil paintings, there is a gentle grading of colour values, a struggle to capture the incoming light though doors and windows, showing faces that light up or darken in an attempt to look at people and their lives through a casement.

Boys gathering sticks in a forest, oil on hard board by Naseem Hafiz Qazi

In her figure compositions, a broader overview of details is sought, such as the value of radiance, the continuation of the line of ‘interest’; the final objective is a search for a perfect balance of colour, line and form and skill in self expression.

Could some reader please identify this gentleman on our Facebook page?

A large number of paintings portray children occupied in various activities. In these compositions it seems as if the artist looks out the window at children longingly, as if unable to join them in their play. She also made a number of paintings of her family, friends, colleagues, domestic servants; however, amongst her earlier work there are a few exhibits of nude painting, a practice that Qazi later discontinued.

The outdoor paintings find Miss Qazi revelling in the Punjab landscape, Lawrence Gardens being very close to her heart, as it has always been to art students in Lahore. Her colours and brush strokes exude an elation of being with nature; here too, having been a student of hers, one knows she worked hard with the dilemma of space in perspective and in colour. She set her own goals and then diligently worked towards them. Her weekends were allocated for painting cityscapes of old Lahore, in which she faithfully documented the habitats in close proximity; the narrow winding streets and the pattern of shadows formed by the sunlight. Other favourites were the thatched homes of the gypsy community living by the ‘budda’ (old) Ravi River and the mud dwellings with an expanse of green fields of the rural Punjab.

Qazi’s still-life paintings depict variations of flowers, fruits, glass wares, set on and with, drapery, as an exercise that evaluates the textures and how transparent, opaque objects, absorb and reflect light.

Miss Naseem Hafeez Qazi was a very private person; she lived by rules she set for herself, she hardly ever exhibited her work and one didn’t hear of her paintings being bought or sold. She was simply attired, was punctual and walked with a straight back; she occasionally walked to the main staffroom, otherwise she was in the ‘department’ all the time, teaching or painting. This exhibition has brought a long overdue display of her work to the fore and offers some comfort to those who battle with the dilemmas of aesthetics.

A student recalls Miss Qazi: and the 1960s’ Lahore arts scene

Shaukat Mahmood | Miss Qazi and my portrait | September 01, 2013| Nation

I had just finished with my MA exam and there was still lot to do. We, the students, were organizing our 2-year long work for final part of the examination, exhibition of work. My four years stay at the Fine Arts Department was nearing its end. Our training under Mrs. Anna Molka Ahmed had remained tough and challenging. She was an extremely committed teacher and administrator. The other teaching faculty comprising Mrs. Malick, Mrs. Mazhar, Mrs. (Dr) Anwar Afzal was a remarkable group of learned teachers. There was another teacher, a visiting teacher, Malik Shams saheb, the curator of the Lahore Museum. He used to teach us Oriental arts. He was a down to earth and very jovial personality. Among the helping staff we had a librarian Mr. Qayyum, a technical assistant whom we called Yaqub sahib, Malik Ashraf was another interesting character, he was office incharge and then two peons, one of them used to prepare canvases and prime them.

For a long time after its inception in pre-Partition days, the Fine Arts Department was admitting only female students. This practice continued for some years even after the Independence. In 1956 for the first time the admissions were opened to boys and the three students who joined it were Colin David [Indpaedia has three articles about Mr David] , Aslam Minhas and Sufi Waqar Ahmad (son of late Sufi Tabassum, the famous poet). They were two years senior to me in the Department. Sufi Waqar after finishing his studies at the Fine Arts Department got a scholarship for further studies in the USA. He never returned. Aslam Minahs besides being a fine painter was an accomplished photographer. After achieving Masters in Fine Arts he laid the foundation of Fine Arts Department at the Government College, Lahore (now a university). Colin David was a tremendous painter and a fine jolly personality, often we two shared jokes. Colin excelled in portrait painting. Alas! Neither Aslam Minhas nor Colin David lives today. And Sufi Waqar turned out to be like an MIA (Missing in action).

The total population of the Fine Arts Department in early sixties was about 15 students (in both years of MA) and five or six teachers. He department comprised a small space on the ground floor and two studios above plus a small room as library. With this limited space and limited population everyone knew about everyone. When I started the second year of my MA, one fine morning we saw a new personality in the department not seen before in the department. It was a smart lady clad in shirt and trousers like a westerner. Wearing big glasses having a small bun at the back of her head and absolute confidence overall. Soon we learnt she was Naseem, Miss Naseem Hafiz Qazi, our new teacher. Her first impression was that she was a very strict and unfriendly kind of teacher. This impression very soon evaporated as we found her very kind, friendly and very soft.

It was a great day for me when one day she expressed her desire to paint my portrait. It was a matter of honour for me. Then she told me what I should wear because it was going to be a full portrait, not just the bust. She wanted me to wear a light bluish-grey shirt and blue jeans. Scarlet res socks and light-tan pointed shoes. I was made to sit on a small stool, back inclined against a desk with my right arm resting on the same desk. I used to sit for about two to three hours, intervals included. The sittings continued for about six weeks if I remember rightly. Finally a painting 122cm (48 in) by 90cm (35.4 in) came into being.

The portrait was painted on a piece of hardboard duly primed by a person who had become expert in the field of preparing canvases and hardboards for teachers as well as for students. Miss Qazi had a very peculiar technique of painting. She used oil-brushes and oil paints. Her brushes were flat of various widths but the edges were chamfered. The paints she applied was neither too thin nor too thick nor impasto. Often it was her brush and paint directly from the tube, no vehicle like turpentine or linseed oil was employed. It is for this reason that at places a viewer can see the impressions of brush hair in her strokes. I am particularly including a detail of her highlight stroke at my right knee. This clearly shows the impression of the bristles. Miss Qazi, interestingly, never put her signature on her paintings. After completion the portrait remained in the custody of Miss Qazi. After her death all her work went into the possession of her brother and he was very kind to give that portrait to my wife. My wife had worked as a faculty under Miss Qazi at the Lahore College for Women for a very long time. Today, this beautiful portrait gracefully hangs in the lounge of the house of my son and my daughter-in-law at 165-Jing Shan Villa, Sheku Nanshan, Shenzhen, China.

On her return [from Spain] she joined Punjab University’s Fine Arts Deprtment and soon after painting my portrait she joined Lahore College for Women, Lahore where she became a professor and head of Fine Arts Department. She retired in1990 after instituting a gold medal for students of Fine arts of Lahore College for Women standing first in the M.A. exam. Thereafter she lead a peaceful life along with her mother residing in her personal home in Shadman, Lahore. She was a very devoted daughter and looked her ailing mother with matchless vigilance, love and absolute commitment. I often thought that if Miss Qazi’s mother died Miss Qazi will not survive long either. This actually happened. Her mother died in October or November of 1994 and a few months after her death she also passed away quietly and peacefully, without any ailment in January 1995 in Lahore at her Shadman house. May Allah bless the noble soul. A great chapter of a pioneer of Fine Arts in Pakistan came to an end.