TQ Chāt | # 13

Ustad Ahmad Mimar presents the design of Taj Mahal to Emperor Shah Jahan by Abdur Rehman Chughtai
Abdur Rehman Chughtai (1899–1975), among South Asia’s first Muslim modernist painters, drew heavily on the tradition of the Mughal miniature. Here he depicts Mughal emperor Shah Jahan with Ustad Ahmad Mimar, his chief architect and the man credited with designing the Taj Mahal.

The Evening of the Ashura by Mahmoud Farshchian.
Isfahan-born Farshchian (born 1930) is among the early modernist painters of the traditional Persian miniature. This painting depicts Yaum-e-Ashura, the day marking the martyrdom of Imam Hussain.

Untitled by Maqbool Fida Husain. Oil on canvas. Among India’s most influential modernist painters, Husain (1915-2011) frequently featured galloping horses in his work. Husain’s early illustrations of horses were heavily influenced by Chinese miniatures, and grew in style and emotion alongside his own artistic development. In the 1970’s, Husain’s horses were infused with more vibrant colours that depicted a range of emotion and illustrated a new impressionistic style of art. This piece was created in 1970.

Shakir Ali (1914-1975) depicts the first verse from Ghalib’s divan of ghazals.