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Pakistan has become a central pivot in contemporary global politics: but what does Western world know of its culture? In recent decades, Pakistan has seen a revival and radical reinvention of miniature painting, a traditional artform which had originally flourished under the patronage of the Mughal Empire in the sixteenth century and which had declined under the colonial influence of the British. Miniature painting has become the major movement in Pakistani contemporary art, and international exhibitions have been enthusiastically received by the global art community.
In this first detailed examination of the phenomenon of contemporary miniature painting in Pakistan, Virginia Whiles reveals how artists engage with and respond to underlying political, historical and cultural tensions. In contrast to India, where the miniature tradition is preserved only through its tourist industry of reproduction, miniature painting in Pakistan has broken free of its traditional cast and has become a medium for its artists to challenge the world around them. Although the paintings are rendered with ornate traditional technique, in content they provide a subtle, satirical treatment of serious issues: from religious and political fundamentalism to "McDonalization", from violence against women to nuclear warfare, from the pressure of Purdah to the machismo of lollywood film posters.
Art and Polemic in Pakistan provides a fascinating insight into Pakistani responses to national and international issues through the medium of miniature painting, and over sixty paintings from artists based at the national College of Art in Lahore - the institute at the heart of the contemporary movement - are reproduced here in full colour. Whiles therefore sheds new light upon the links between art and culture politics, and between indigenous and global aesthetics, presenting an artform which challenges common Western assumptions about Asian art.
ISBN 9781848853652
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Pages : 292
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