Tassaduq Sohail (30 October 1930 2 October 2017) was a Pakistani painter and short story writer. Primarily known for his paintings, his first artwork appeared in an exhibition of

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

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 ...

around 1978, and later his work appeared at

Bonhams Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought t ...

's international art exhibition in 2007 which helped him to be recognized as one of the prominent artists. He produced most of work about

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...

s and portrayed them as superior creatures besides portraying dogs and birds moving out in the early morning. He also depicted social condemnation and non-conformance. Some of his artwork depicted "women with their eyes tell stories of their fears and desires".

Biography

He was born in

Jalandhar Jalandhar () is a city in the state of Punjab, India, Punjab in India. With a considerable population, it ranks as the List of cities in Punjab and Chandigarh by population, third most-populous city in the state and is the largest city in the ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

in 1930. Following the partition of the Indian subcontinent, he later migrated to Pakistan,

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 ...

along with his family in 1952. He did his schooling at the

Government Islamia Science College, Karachi Government Islamia Science College is located in Karachi, Pakistan. It is one of the largest colleges in Pakistan. The college provides faculties of Science, Law, Commerce and Arts. It is located just opposite Dawood College of Engineering and ...

where one of his teachers dubbed him a "raconteur". In 1961, he went to London where he started his professional career as an artist after taking part in even classes at

Saint Martin's School of Art Saint Martin's School of Art was an art school, art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's beca ...

. Prior to his involvement with paintings in London, he established an

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

literary circle A literary circle or coterie, according to ''The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms'', is a "small group of writers (and others) bound together more by friendship and habitual association than by a common literary cause or style that might unite ...

where he became known as "qissa-go" (storyteller) for his short story writings and tale-narrating. In 2018, the Cultural Department of the

government of Sindh The Government of Sindh () () is the provincial government of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Its powers and structure are set out in the provisions of the 1973 Constitution, in which 30 Districts of 7 Divisions under its authority and ju ...

opened an art gallery, Tassaduq Sohail Gallery in the

National Museum of Pakistan The National Museum of Pakistan () is a public museum located in Karachi, Pakistan. History The National Museum of Pakistan was established in Frere Hall in 1951, replacing the defunct Victoria Museum. Frere Hall itself was built in 1865 as a ...

aimed at displaying one hundred artwork of Sohail.

Death

He was suffering from prolonged illness and was subsequently admitted to the Shifa International Hospital 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 ...

. He was later shifted to

Dr. Ruth K. M. Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi Civil Hospital Karachi (), officially known as Dr. Ruth K. M. Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, is a 1,900-bed tertiary care public hospital that imparts both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and training. It is one of the teaching hospitals ...

for further

medical treatment A therapy or medical treatment is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. Both words, ''treatment'' and ''therapy'', are often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx. As a rule, each therapy has indications an ...

where he fell unconscious. The doctors reportedly couldn't collect his

medical history The medical history, case history, or anamnesis (from Greek: ἀνά, ''aná'', "open", and μνήσις, ''mnesis'', "memory") of a patient is a set of information the physicians collect over medical interviews. It involves the patient, and ev ...

as none of his family members were present at the hospital. On 2 October 2017, he died in the hospital.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sohail, Tassaduq 1930 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Pakistani painters Artists from Karachi Writers from Karachi Pakistani male short story writers Muhajir people Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art Pakistani painters Pakistani artists People from Punjab Province (British India)