Why did I strangle my own self?
Why did I make my own arms bleed?
Why, on hearing my own rumblings,
did I wonder:
Who is this in the wilderness?

The rubaiyat of Sadequain, 1970


In this self-portrait, Sadequain is shown with his arms and legs contorted around his body, his characteristically long fingers draping down towards the ground like the boughs of a tree. The image was adapted by Sadequain, mainly as drawings, and appeared several times in his illustrations for L’Étranger (see previous page). A line drawing of this composition was published in the 1966 book Sadequain, Sketches and Drawings; Editions Mystique, under the title The Webbed.

Formerly in the collection of the Artist’s friend Abu Shamim Arif, this painting was exhibited at the 2003 exhibition Sadequain: The Holy Sinner and published in the monumental exhibition catalogue.

"...he is nonetheless a man of prodigious energy. The summary of this energy is in his long thin hands, which are constantly in motion. Artists are often obsessed with their own faces and revel in self-portraiture; Sadequain is obsessed with his hands. He has painted these hands with their hooked knuckles and distended, clutching fingers over and over again until his hands have become a second signature in his paintings."
Thomas Dowling, 'Pakistan’s Prolific Painter', Panorama, September 1963