Zubeida Agha Remembered

The 23rd death anniversary of the first Pakistani Modern Artists, Zubeida Agha was observed on Saturday, a private news channel reported

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Oct, 2020 ) :The 23rd death anniversary of the first Pakistani Modern Artists, Zubeida Agha was observed on Saturday, a private news channel reported.

Born in 1922 in Faisalabad, Zubeida Agha was the first artist to hold an exhibition as torch-bearer of modern art in Pakistan. After graduating from Kinnaird College for Women University, Lahore, she worked with painter B. C. Sanyal from 1944 to 1946. At this time, she also became well- acquainted with the works of Picasso.

She also was influenced by the works of Mario Perlingeri, an Italian prisoner of war in India at that time.

The Society of Fine Arts awarded her first prize for modern painting in 1946. She joined Saint Martin's school of Art, London in 1950, later moving on to Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris in 1951.

In 1961, she was appointed executive director of the Contemporary Art Gallery in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, receiving the President's Award for Pride of Performance in 1965.

On 14th August 2006, Pakistan Post issued a Rs 40 sheetlet of stamps to posthumously honour 10 Pakistani painters. Besides Zubeida Agha, the other nine painters were: Laila Shahzada, Askari Mian Irani, Sadequain, Ali Imam, Shakir Ali, Anna Molka Ahmed, Zahoor ul Akhlaq, Ahmed Pervez and Bashir Mirza. Her work is on permanent display at the National Art Gallery of Pakistan National Council of the Arts in Islamabad, Pakistan.

She died on October 31, 1997 in Islamabad.