Ahmed Khan

Abstract

Ahmed Khan was born in 1938 in Shahjahanpur, India. He received his formal training in design from the National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore. Khan was a designer and modernist painter famously known for his vibrant, luminous, large-scale calligraphic paintings. He utilised unconventional photo-developing chemicals on the silver bases of his canvases to achieve vibrant peacock blue, emerald green, and ochre colours, demonstrating years of experimentation and expertise with the mediums. His overlapping layers of calligraphy juxtaposed with splashes of colours on the canvas are dynamic, creating the visual effect of an echo. Khan’s subject matter explores classical themes in Arabic calligraphy based on the Islamic concept of tawhid or the oneness of God. Khan taught at the NCA from 1962-88, and after retirement, he dedicated his time to painting. Still, he is more widely recognised as a designer than an artist.

Biography

A designer by training, Khan was born in 1938 in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. In 1962, he received his diploma in design studies from the National College of Arts in Lahore, where he started teaching the same year. In 1963, Khan undertook an extensive research project to document the folk art of Sindh, Punjab, and Baluchistan, culminating in his exhibition at the Commonwealth Festival in London. At the beginning of his artistic career, Khan followed a realistic style. However, in 1966, he attended a printmaking workshop in Karachi organised by Pratt Institute with the eminent American painter, printmaker, and cartoonist Michael Ponce de Leon (1922–2006). The work produced during this workshop was exhibited and acquired by the Library of Congress and Smithsonian Institute collections in Washington, D.C.

According to Khan, “We are living in a time span of at least five thousand years. The bull-carts of Mohenjo-Daro from four thousand years ago and the latest cars both run on the same road at the same time. I am an eyewitness to all elements of culture from the primitive to the latest technology and that is strongly reflected in my works of art.” This is reflected in his work as he combines the traditional forms of calligraphy with modern and unconventional techniques of rendering his paintings and sculptures.

Khan has designed the interior of the National Assembly of Pakistan in Islamabad and several public monuments in calligraphic sculptures, including Kalma and Girja Chowks (traffic intersections) in Lahore and the Shaheed Monument in Nowshera, Pakistan.

Khan is best known for exploring classical Arabic calligraphy based on the Islamic concept of God's oneness (tawhid) and his unconventional painting approach. Khan retired as a professor of design from the National College of Arts, Lahore, in 1988.

Bibliography

Ali, Sarwat. “A Master at his Best.” The News. August 24th, 2000.

Hassan, Ijaz Ul. “Painting in Pakistan.” Lahore: Ferozsons. 1991.

Hashmi Salima and Mirza Quddus, 50 Years of Visual Arts in Pakistan, Sang-e-Meel Publications, 1997