Sadqains Treasured murals fading away

ISLAMABAD Monumental public murals by Pakistan’s revered painter and thinker, Sadequain, valued at tens of millions of dollars each, are damaged and at risk of fading away, specialists and dealers warn.

Many have already been destroyed or vanished. Without urgent restoration work, they caution, Pakistanis could be deprived forever of the awe-inspiring tableaux gifted by the region’s pre-eminent muralist.

“Most of Sadequain’s murals are in varying states of disrepair,” said Salman Ahmad, the founder and director of the US-based Sadequain Foundation, who conducted a survey of the murals this year.

“I found most of the magnificent paintings in a state of decay. I got the impression from authorities that despite good intentions, their options were limited since there is no budgetary provision for the upkeep of these national treasures.”

From 1954 until his death in 1987, Sadequain painted about three dozen giant murals on the ceilings and walls of public buildings in Pakistan and India. He painted three murals outside the subcontinent: one at the Paris office of the state airline PIA, one in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a calligraphic at the Abu Dhabi power house at Umm al Nar in 1979.

Most of the murals depict the toils of the working class or intellectual endeavour. They are infused with a Gothic tone.

A self-described “faqir” or mystic, Sadequain is the most legendary of Pakistan’s artists. Born in 1930 into a family of calligraphers in pre-partition India, he produced 15,000 paintings, drawings, calligraphy pieces and murals. A philosopher and poet, he also composed thousands of Urdu quatrains.

Among his best-known murals are Evolution of Mankind (circa 1973) on the ceiling of the Lahore Museum; Quest for Knowledge (1968) on the library ceiling of Punjab University in Lahore; Saga of Labour at Mangla Dam in eastern Pakistan (1967); Earth and the Heavens at Frere Hall in Karachi; and Treasures of Time (1961) at the State Bank of Pakistan head office in Karachi.

Niilofur Farrukh, the editor of NuktaArt, a biannual magazine of contemporary Pakistani art, said: “As public art that projects the historical legacy of the people and gives voice to their aspirations, Sadequain’s murals have special national significance. They are among the most extraordinary work of this kind in the subcontinent, both in terms of content and size. They should be declared national treasures and a concerted effort made to save them before it’s too late.”

The Evolution of Mankind, based on the work of the national poet Allama Iqbal, spans 30 metres by 10 metres. “The custodians of this monumental work have been downright negligent in preventing rainwater seepage, extreme heat and humidity conditions that are rapidly destroying the mural,” Mr Ahmad said. “Termites have infested the wooden frames and eaten away at the canvases, leaving the paint layer hanging almost without support and liable to break away.”

Saga of Labour on the walls of the Mangla Dam’s turbine room, in which Sadequain celebrates the contribution of the dam’s labourers and technicians “is in urgent need of attention”, Mrs Farrukh said.

Treasures of Time at the State Bank head office, spanning 19 metres by three metres, portrays man’s intellectual evolution from the era of ancient Greek philosophers, to the age of Islamic astronomers, mathematicians and chemists, up to modern thinkers. Exhibitors chopped off a corner of the massive mural to make way for an air-conditioning duct at an exhibition in 2002.

In August 2008, the cultural affairs minister allocated 15 million rupees (Dh664,000) for restoration of the Lahore Museum ceiling mural. Two oil-painting restorers from India are expected to start work in November on the two-year project.

At least nine murals have vanished, according to Mr Ahmad.

As gifts to public institutions, the murals have never been valued. But the Sadequain Foundation values Saga of Labour, for example, at US$70 million (Dh257m).

“Sadequain’s murals represent an unparalleled body of artistic genius,” Mr Ahmad said. “They do not depict the rulers, the high and mighty but the working-class masses who represent the backbone of a society.”