Naseem Hafiz Qazi
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Naseem Hafiz Qazi: the person
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
Her art
A fitting tribute
By Bibigul
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.
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.
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.
Left: The fallen letter, 1978, oil on cotton canvas
Below: Boys gathering sticks in a forest, oil on hard board
