Woman holding a sitar

Idealized women are a persistent feature of paintings by the Lahore-born artist Abdur Rahman Chughtai. Typical of his hand are the finely rendered lines of this work. Rosy cheeks, elongated and heavy-lidded eyes, sweeping eyebrows, and a voluptuous figure are all characteristic of Chughtai's female subjects. Chughtai's long career spanned the British colonial period in South Asia, the struggle for independence, and the creation of the modern nations of India and Pakistan. His work reflects the nationalist sentiments that affected many South Asian artists during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Those sentiments were expressed through a rejection of European painting genres, subject matter, and styles in favor of native ones. In this case, the blossoms on a low horizon recall the foliage of earlier, Mughal paintings. The solitary pensive woman brings to mind illustrated love poetry. She is also reminiscent of paintings visualizing musical modes and the emotions or moods associated with them. Following the 1947 partition of the subcontinent, Chughtai was hailed as Pakistan's national artist and undertook such projects as the design of the country's new currency. His work remains as respected in India as it is in Pakistan.