Laila Shahzada (1926 – 20 July 1994) was a Pakistani abstract

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

who lived and worked in Karachi,

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Biography

Laila Shahzada was born in

Littlehampton Littlehampton is a town, seaside resort and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the English Channel on the eastern bank of the mouth of the River Arun. It is south south-west of London, west of Brighton and ...

, England in 1926. After completing her basic education in England, she decided to become a painter-artist and trained initially in England in drawing and watercolour. Later, she trained under the artist, Ahmed Saeed Nagi, in Karachi who taught her how to use oils. She held her first solo exhibition at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi in 1960. Using artifacts of

Indus Valley civilization The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form from 2600 BCE ...

in Pakistan as models, she made a series of paintings reflecting the culture of this ancient civilization. These paintings were shown at an exhibit at

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

in 1976. In 1986, she participated in a group show at the Shorouks International Gallery, Regent Street,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. A total of 60 to 70 paintings were done by her before hear death. She was killed in a gas explosion at her studio on 20 July 1994.

Personal life

Shahzada married twice in her life. She had a son and a daughter from the first marriage, Sohail and Shahien. After separation from her first husband, she was given custody of their son and the first husband got custody of their daughter. She remarried and had another son, Zahir, in the second marriage but could never emotionally get over the loss of her daughter, Shahien. Later, she did a painting titled ''Mother and child''. Some friends and art critics said that the painting was a reflection of her own pain as a mother. "Laila Shahzada was a sensitive, disturbed and powerful artist whose brush had immense flow and impact", said Naeem Tahir, director-general of the Pakistan National Council of Arts in 2005.

Death

Laila Shahzada died in a gas explosion in her studio in

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

, Pakistan on 20 July 1994.

Awards and recognition

* Tamgha-i-Imtiaz by the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan () is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The president is the nominal head of the executive and the supreme commander of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

in 1986 *

Pride of Performance The Pride of Performance (), officially known as the Presidential Pride of Performance, is an award bestowed by the Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Pakistan to recognize people with "notable achievements in the field of art, science, literature, sp ...

Award by the

in 1995. * She was awarded the "Key to the City" of New York in 1975 — the only Pakistani to receive this award. * To honor her work, a commemorative postage stamp was issued for her in 2006 by the Pakistan Postal Department

References

External links

Pakistan Post honours deceased artists
The News International (newspaper) 1926 births 1994 deaths 20th-century Pakistani painters 20th-century Pakistani women artists Recipients of Tamgha-e-Imtiaz Recipients of the Pride of Performance Deaths from fire Pakistani women painters 20th-century women painters {{Pakistan-painter-stub