About Murals

Mural art is as old as human civilization. In the early ages, visual art reached its peak when artists created mural art to record traditions, events, and convictions of their times for posterity. The archeologists are now using these valuable pieces of art to trace the history of the world. Some of the oldest examples of visual art are found in the form of wall engravings in different parts of the world, including the caves of Ellora in India and the pyramids in Egypt.

Because public art at public places is accessible to everyone regardless of class, education or ethnicity, it is an effective means of social communication. Muralists have the advantage in reaching out to a much wider audience and are not limited to studios or art galleries. Mural art has existed for centuries, but it has not been adapted widely in Pakistan, perhaps because of lack of patronage required from state or private institutions and partly because of lack of muralists who have that special skill and aptitude required to work on large canvases.

The era of modern mural paining was heralded during the renaissance period in Europe after Michelangelo and his contemporaries painted the walls and ceilings of the Sistine Chapel and other public buildings. Later examples of modern mural painting are the Mexican artists, Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. In 1920s they painted murals on public buildings that captured historical events and glorified Mexican history in a manner that could be understood by the common man. Sadequain painted several murals at unprecedented scale and pace that had not been seen in the region before him or since. His hallmark murals glorified the dignity of man, man’s struggle and advancements in the past and hope for the future. The themes of the murals are wide and subjects are diverse, having the common thread that highlights the virtues as well as the shortcomings. Generally, government institutions or large private organizations fund mural projects for a number of reasons. One obvious reason for the initiative being the beautification, but more importantly, the murals capture the pulse of the nation; people feel connected to the murals, which portray their lives, their culture, and preserve it for the future generations to experience.

Sadequain painted more than 45 murals in his life, which are the best examples of public art and an important part of our cultural heritage. His murals are spread over India, Pakistan, the Middle East, Europe, and North America. Starting from early 1950s and until 1987, when he passed away, he painted, on average, at least one mural for every year of his professional life. His first 2 murals were painted on the walls of the Jinnah Hospital in Karachi, and then he completed a third mural measuring 45 x 8 feet for the Karachi International Airport. All three of these murals are now missing and their whereabouts are unknown. His last mural was mounted on the ceiling of the Frere Hall in Karachi, which was left incomplete because of his death before the mural was finished.

It is difficult to judge Sadequain’s art by applying the same criteria as applied to most others, because he did not adhere to the basic techniques and traditional themes of representation and interpretation of art. Mural painting is a challenging task, artistically, logistically, and technically. A classical composition demands the masterful skill of making an opening statement, unfolding a subject, and completing the storyline, while filling a large canvas without a void. If doing a painting were akin to writing a short story then painting a mural would be comparable to authoring a voluminous book, which is a far more challenging task that requires imagination, relevant theme, and a reservoir of energy. Then, the large size of the mural poses additional challenge of the need for a large space, which is seldom available to the artists. And last, what do you do with the mural after it is completed unless it is a commissioned work?

Sadequain’s monumental murals represent unparalleled body of artistic genius by any artist of the country, and perhaps the region.  These murals adorn the halls of the State Bank of Pakistan in Karachi, Frere Hall in Karachi, Lahore Museum, Punjab University, Punjab Public Library, Mangla Dam, Aligarh Muslim University, Banaras Hindu University, National Geophysical Research Institute in Hyderabad, India, Indian Institute of Islamic Studies in Delhi, and Abu Dhabi Power House to name a few. To put it in perspective, his paintings and calligraphies in the building of Indian Institute of Islamic Studies in Delhi cover more than 3,000 square feet of surface area. Many of the murals still exist, though majority of them are in an acute state of dis-repair, some have been moved to different locations, and at least 15 murals are now missing under suspicious circumstances, with seemingly no trace left behind them. Some examples of the missing murals are the 2 murals from the Jinnah Hospital in Karachi, one mural from the International Airport in Karachi, one mural at Pakistan International Airlines office in Paris, and one mural at Customs House in Karachi, to name a few.

His murals paid homage to the struggle of the working class, the challenges and opportunities for the mankind, the bounties of mother earth, human progress through the ages, and hope for the future. His work often highlighted the issues of socio-economic struggle that Sadequain used as an effective vehicle for social expression. Sadequain said that his murals are to educate and inspire as well as to foster a sense of identity and pride in the members of the community.

His murals are thematic, rich in content, unique in style and appropriately indicative of the significance of the venues where they are displayed. For example, his mural “War and Peace” in Karachi, and “Quest for Knowledge” in the Punjab University in Lahore, are some of the finest pieces of artistic form and style. If his paintings are a snap shot of a concept or reality, then his murals unfold intriguing stories of mankind about its achievements in space and time. Pioneering the art of public mural-making in Pakistan, he painted with incredible energy and speed, scores of large murals on a variety of subjects, honoring the toiling masses, the over-achievers, national concerns, and potentialities that lie ahead of the mankind to be harnessed.

Characters in his murals are not the portraits of kings or queens, or the bourgeois class or the powerful, but they are symbolic representation of the ordinary members of society, or those who helped pave the path to enlightenment. By design, they do not represent any particular group or race, however they can be identified by their trades because they are shown working with instruments and tools of their profession. For example, one character would be writing a book and another would be gazing at the stars with binoculars, thus indicating their profession as a writer and an astronomer. His imagery is abstract in nature, which requires the viewer to not just look, but more importantly to analyze it.