Zubeida Agha

Private Collection, Chicago

Acquired from the above, circa 2000s

Zubeida Agha was born in Faisalabad in 1922 and was among the first Pakistani modern artists. She completed a degree in political science at Kinnaird College, Lahore and later attended the Lahore School of Fine Art where she was introduced to the study of Western art and became well-acquainted with Picasso’s works. Agha created an intimate approach to painting that combined abstraction with an use of intense color, and her work consciously commits to unrecognizable forms to reveal a sense of spiritual unity and truth. She was the first artist to hold a solo exhibition of modern art in Pakistan in 1949, and critics said that she “arrive[d] at a shape that was simple yet it captured the rhythm of movement and the mood of her subjects.” (R. Naseer, ‘Zubeida Agha’, Aware Magazine)

The present lot beautifully encapsulates Zubeida’s unique visual idiom and sophisticated command of her brush strokes. In its greens, oranges, reds, and blues, Untitled hides in its shapes what may be a landscape and two women conversing. In Zubeida’s practice, however, the subject pales in comparison to the emotion that the work evokes. There is a tenderness and sensitivity in this masterful example of Zubeida’s non-traditional imagery, best described in rich color than with words.