LAHORE: The National Artists' Association of Pakistan (NAAP) has claimed that "ill-intentioned" efforts are being made to remove 10 precious paintings of renowned late Pakistani artist Anwar Jalal Shemza, better known as A.J. Shemza, from the permanent collection of the National Art Gallery of the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA).
"Recently, it has come to our notice that ill-intentioned efforts are being made to remove 10 precious paintings of our renowned Pakistani artist, late A.J. Shemza, from the permanent collection under the guise of his wife demanding their return despite the fact that these paintings have been part of the permanent collection of the National Art Gallery, PNCA, since 1985," reads a letter written to the Prime Minister, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman, Transparency International Pakistan and Federal Heritage and Culture Minister Shafqat Mehmood besides other concerned quarters by former member Board of Governors, PNCA, and NAAP Chairman Mian Ijaz-ul-Hassan.
"I have personal knowledge that late A.J. Shemza's exhibition of 'The Roots' series comprising of 100 paintings, was organized by the Lahore Art Council (LAC) in 1985 at NAAP's initiative. At the close of the exhibition, the PNCA, Islamabad, was requested to hold Shemza's exhibition at the National Art Gallery but the permission was declined," the NAAP chairman asserted.
He added that upon the completion of the exhibition at the LAC Alhamra, Shemza's wife (Ms Mary Katrina) selected 10 paintings and gifted them to the National Art Gallery in order that her late husband should be put on permanent display as a prominent Pakistani artist who had moved to the United Kingdom in the sixties.
The letter says that it is indeed a matter of record that these paintings have been on display and part of the permanent collection for almost 35 years. The copy of the letter is available with this scribe.
According to Mian, the PNCA is the primary national institution tasked with the care and custody of valuable artworks (paintings, sculptures, ceramics etc.) in the ownership of the Government of Pakistan (GoP).
He noted that these valuable treasures have over the years either been gifted to the GoP or have been acquired by the GoP as part of the "permanent collection" housed at the National Art Gallery.
"However, the PNCA has been unable to keep permanent collections safe and secure. In 2016, it surfaced that artworks worth billions of rupees were missing from the permanent collection. These artworks were invaluable and irreplaceable assets and a part of our cultural heritage and their disappearance due to sheer negligence of the PNCA management and its staff is a national loss. To date, no concrete action has been taken against the culprits who were involved and responsible for what amounts to outright theft," observed Ijaz-ul-Hassan in the letter.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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