“[These works] connects to the transnational development of calligraphic abstraction – both the historical tradition it hinges on and in which Sadequain was trained, and its twentieth-century reinterpretation – as well as to the art of other key contributors of the international art scene of postwar Paris.

‘Stylistically, the broad sweeping lines and semi-abstract figures of the painting prefigure Sadequain’s later calligraphic works as well as the impressive murals he would accomplish on his return to Pakistan. These include commissions for the entrance hall of the Lahore Museum; Punjab University, Lahore; the ceiling of Frere Hall, Karachi and the Powerhouse of the Mangla Dam.”
Devika Singh, May 2021


Before Sadequain left Paris in 1967, he painted a suite of works in late 1966 and early 1967 depicting characteristic Parisian scenes: dancers, acrobats, figures in the street and the artist at work, recalling Léger’s Cirque series, or Picasso and Matisse’s Dancer series.

The palette of greys and blues, as well as the application of paint combined with the scratching away of the surface, are a continuation of Sadequain’s technique from the late 1950s and early 1960s.

However, these works mark a departure to a more fluid and abstract style, nevertheless determined by human scale and figurative elements. This looseness is the result of Sadequain living and working in Paris and the rubbing of shoulders with artists of the École de Paris, such as Atlan, Soulages, Poliakoff, Michaux etc.

A similar painting was displayed at Tate Modern, London, as part of the exhibition The Shape of Words, alongside work by Etel Adnan, Parviz Tanavoli, Paul Klee, Ibrahim Salahi amongst others.