Artists

Anwar Jalal Shemza

Pakistani 1928 - 1985

Who is Anwar Jalal Shemza?

Anwar Jalal Shemza (1928-1985) was a Pakistani-born artist and writer who later worked in the United Kingdom. Although notable for his visual art, he also published several Urdu novels and poetry collections during the 1950s and wrote plays that were broadcast on Radio Pakistan. Early in his career, Shemza drew inspiration from Modernist artists particularly Paul Klee while his later work increasingly reflected traditional Islamic artistic influences.

How was Anwar Jalal Shemza initially received in the UK?

Shemza came to Britain from Lahore in 1956 to join a new wave of émigré artists that also included Francisco de Souza, Frank Bowling, Avinash Chandra & and Aubrey William. All had a burning desire to be part of the Modern movement, overcome deterritorialization and connect with a vibrant international art world.

A leading member of Modernist group ‘The Lahore Art Circle’ in Pakistan Shemza experienced a personal crisis when he began his studies at the Slade School of fine art in 1956. After failing drawing tests and being overlooked for the annual Young Contemporaries exhibition he became anxious and depressed. A further blow was dealt when celebrated art historian Ernst Gombrich, lecturing at Slade, described Islamic Art as being purely functional. As his confidence crumbled, he was forced to reassess and ask himself, ‘Who and I.’ Realising that he was no longer the artist he was before coming to Britian, Shemza attempted to start again. He subsequently destroyed his earlier drawings and paintings to try to unlearn what he knew and rebuild his practice.

How did Anwar Jalal Shemza’s work evolve?

Despite these setbacks Shemza threw himself back into his work with relentless intensity. By 1959 he was exhibiting at the New Vision Centre and the Royal Commonwealth Society, followed by a significant showing at Gallery One in 1960. His paintings caught the eye of influential critics, among them George Butcher and W. G. Archer, Keeper of the Indian Section at the Victoria and Albert Museum. They were drawn to the clarity and logic of his compositions, describing his works as possessing a “bold determination” and a “reasoned confidence,” yet suffused with a strange, compelling beauty that set him apart.

In search of a new visual language that could hold both Islamic heritage and Western Modernism Shemza had started to experiment with the intersection of the circle and the square. These simple forms with infinite permutations became the basis for a lifetime of work.

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“One circle, one square, one problem, one life is not enough to solve it”.

- Anwar Jalal Shemza, 1962

Through his use of simple flat forms and shapes Shemza incorporates ideas of leading European Modernist painters. Particular reference can be seen to the work of Paul Klee who was known for reducing landscapes, cities and figures to squares, triangles and circles. Yet in its avoidance any figurative references Shemza perhaps also acknowledges new artistic ideas of American Abstract Expressionist painting whose early exhibitions took place in the London in the late 195Os to much acclaim.

The geometric composition also has a distinct architectural quality to it, perhaps referencing the great Mosques of Shemza’s home in Lahore. The use of flat matt colour creates a feel of warm weathered stone whilst the squares and circles conjure ideas of turrets, prayer halls, domes and arches. Where circles are overlaid, crescent shapes are formed creating a strong connection with Islam. Shemza not only uses strong primary colours to emphasize the shapes but perhaps to also reference the deep blues, earthy reds and yellows associated with ancient Islamic porcelain and manuscripts.

How was Shemza’s work celebrated?

Just after he died in 1985 Shemza’s work was recognised in an exhibition entitled The Other Story, at the Hayward Gallery, 1989-1990. Presented alongside other influential émigré artists Shemza’s estate exhibited 37 works from 1959 to 1984, with The Wall featuring on the front cover of the catalogue. This volume of work not only made him the most representative artist at the exhibition but also created an informal retrospective of this his life’s work in the UK. In doing so it highlighted Shemza as an artist who injected new ingredients into British Art and helped shaped British culture.