Sadequain (Pakistan, 1930-1987)


Untitled (Seated Nude) Signed 'Sadequain' and dated '60 in Urdu upper rightOil on board116 x 89.5cm (45 11/16 x 35 1/4in).
|Provenance:From the collection of Richard V. Gilbert, head of a Harvard-World Bank-Ford Foundation advisory group to the Pakistan Planning commission, 1960;Acquired directly from the artist;Thence by descent.This seminal and exquisite work comes to auction from the collection of the late eminent economist, Richard V. Gilbert.Richard V. Gilbert was the first Keynsian economist in the United States and taught Keynes' ideas at Harvard in the mid-1930s. He was known for his advisory work for President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration and for his advisory work in Pakistan.After receiving his Ph.D., Gilbert entered the ranks of the Roosevelt administration as an economic adviser to Harry Hopkins, one of the principal architects of the New Deal.During the New Deal, Gilbert was one of the first economists to focus his attention on the economies of developing nations. In 1959, Gilbert joined the Harvard Economic Advisory Service (HEAS) with hopes of putting his economic philosophies into practice. As director of the HEAS mission in Pakistan, Gilbert reformed the Pakistani economy by instituting a policy of shipping surplus U.S. grain to the developing country. He was most concerned with economic development focused on ordinary people. Gustav F. Papanek, chairman of the Economics Department at Boston University and close colleague of Gilbert, said that "Gilbert had as much an impact on the economic development of Pakistan during that time as any foreigner bar none." Ayub Khan awarded the sitara-e-Pakistan, the highest honour afforded to a foreigner, to Richard V Gilbert for his work in 1961. "My dad met Sadequain in 1960 and loved his paintings. Sadequain became a friend, visited our house quite often, did the portrait of me when I was 16 and four other sketches which he gave to us on April 15, 1961. He was already on an immense visionary path. I feel to this moment a deep connection to Sadequain as well as to the people - both farmers and others whom I connected with during that time."Born in Amroha, U.P. in the period of the Great Depression, Sadequain went on to study at Agra university. Unable to afford the fees for Calcutta School of art where he longed to study, Sadequain instead worked at the All-India Radio in Delhi. It is generally accepted that Sadequain did not have any formal art training and thus, incredibly, he is considered a self taught artist. After migrating top Pakistan post partition, Sadequain worked for a year with Radio Pakistan before devoting himself to art. When asked what is the most important aspect of your life – Sadequain stated: 'Work – Painting and other creative work is done by me not because I want to! Something inside me compels to work even though I may not want to...You see, I can live without food for three or four days. I cannot live without work for a single day!'Sadequain was known to state that he had painted more in area than Michelangelo. Given his expansive murals and detailed allegorical renditions of human life this could easily be the case. Although not formerly educated in the arts Sadequain shows clear influence of renaissance masters, in particular he admires the works of El Greco and Botticelli and he made no secret of the influence Picasso had on his work. 'Sadequain's love for the nude form recalls not only the magnificent Hellenistic age but also the slave markets of the Middle Ages and ancient Indian erotic sculpture.' (Abdul Hamid Akhund et al, Sadequain: The Holy Sinner, Mohatta Palace Museum, Karachi, 2002, p.79 )