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Muhammad Hussain Hanjra
''' Hanjra has left behind a valuable treasure of paintings which enshrine the idea he pursued in painting. One can see from his work that he did not even try to break up the colors or splinter the form in the style of the moderns.'''

'''There is no attempt to reduce light to its many components as multi-colored patches or dots, in the manner of the impressionist. Nor is there any attempt to break and re-mouled the form into straight-lined triangles or rectangles or rearranged facets, in the manner of the cubists.'''

Rather, he sticks to the conventional smoothly applied and minutely finished color, and in drawing the form, he likewise adheres faithfully to objective reality, without taking any liberties.

With such a cold and correct and conventional approach to painting, how is he able to impart an indubitable charm and distinction to his paintings?

The best work of Hanjra is to be found among his landscapes, which includes broad views of rustic life. It is obvious and it is a well-known fact that he had a passionate love for nature. This led him to wanderings all over Indo-Pakistan but especially among the mountains of the north. Some of this love could not but show on the canvas.

But in art, feeling is not enough by itself; it must find expression through some device of applying paint and rendering form. In other words, a technique has to be developed by each artist to serve as a vehicle for his 'emotion, to "give to airy nothing, a local habitation and a form."

Hanjra was able to develop one such and he was in his own small way, a stylist, in the field of landscapes particularly. The proof is that. You can easily make out, his paintings out of scores of others. His landscapes are mostly distant panoramic views, where as modern artists usually paint close-up scenes. He paints landscapes in a soft pearly light, as if it is early morning, when the colors are still a little soft and misty and the contrast of light and shade is not strong. The moderns often play a strong light on the subject and paint them almost in a glare in which each color and each color tone: is heightened and accentuated. Within this softly lighted scene, Hanjra casts a mild highlight from one side to set off the rest of the subdued scene.

Also, he was found of twilight scenes in which the light is fading away and a pensive mood pervades the landscape. Such dim and hazy effects were characteristic of the romantic approach of earlier times.

In the application of color, Hanjra shows much artistry. The blue clouds, the green trees, the brown rocks. The yellow heaps of grain are not simply so much blue, green, brown and yellow. They have within them innumerable tones and micro-tones through which the color undulates and throbs. It is not a flat matter-of-fact daubing or smearing of color but a jewel like mixing of shade into shade so skilfully that the edges never show and the delicacy and freshness of the first touch remains. It is worked over, again and again but without getting hard. The colors however always remain in a low kev.

The peculiar light effect, the low relief of forms, the elimination of black, the micro-mutations of tone and tint, the elimination of obvious brush strokes, the avoidance of stylization or imposition of geometrical patterns, all add up to give Hanjra's work a distinctive character.

There is nothing wild or bizarre or rough or rude in this work. It is highly cultivated, highly wrought and highly refined work in an age when these values have suffered step depreciation.


 * 1934 Won a prize in All-India Art Exhibition
 * 1946 Painted first Indian Cabinet (5 x2 ft)
 * 1973 Solo exhibition at Karachi
 * 1983 9th May commemorative show Karachi Arts Council