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 on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purp ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

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 tog ...

'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 Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

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 the third most-populous city in the Indian state of Punjab and the largest city in Doaba region. Jalandhar lies alongside the Grand Trunk Road and is a well-connected rail and road junction. Jalandhar is northwest of the state ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

in 1930. Following the

partition of the Indian subcontinent The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

, he later migrated to Pakistan,

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...

along with his family in 1952. He did his schooling at the Government Islamia Science College, Karachi 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 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 became part of ...

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

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

literary circle A literary circle is a small group of students who gather together to discuss a piece of literature in depth. Famous or noteworthy examples include: * The Socrates School * The Bloomsbury Group * The Dymock Poets * The Algonquin Roundtable * Th ...

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 ( sd, حڪومت سنڌ) ( ur, ) 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 u ...

opened an art gallery, Tassaduq Sohail Gallery in the

National Museum of Pakistan The National Museum of Pakistan ( ur, ) is located in Karachi, Pakistan. History The National Museum of Pakistan was established in Frere Hall on 17 April 1950, 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 (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capita ...

. He was later shifted to

Dr. Ruth K. M. Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi Dr. Ruth K. M. Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, commonly known as 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 aff ...

for further

medical treatment A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many different ...

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 information gained by a physician by asking specific questions, either to the patient or to other pe ...

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