A remarkable display of watercolour paintings

LAHORE:A remarkable exhibition of watercolours opened at the oldest and reputed Coopera Art Gallery. This exhibition was organised to pay tributes to the late Najamul Hassan Pirzada, watercolorist known as king of the clouds.

He was born in 1951 and left this world on April 5, 2014 after spending his 44 years of life in practicing and producing paintings in watercolour medium. Pirzada was a painter whose living was based purely on his artworks. He was a man of few words, but his contribution to the field of watercolour in Pakistan is unforgettable, as only a few artists were working in this medium at that time. The action of Coopera Art Gallery needs appreciation, as it has exhibited Pirzada’s paintings in his memory, which are also for sale and amount if collected will be donated for charitable purposes.

The other participant artist Farida Fatima is a graduate from NCA where she has been teaching for a quite long time as visiting Assistant Professor. She has also painted in watercolours medium which are small in size but very effective. She is a dedicated painter and is working continuously.

Sajida Haider Vandal and Pervaiz Vandal, Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Institute of Art and Culture, Lahore, were the chief guests respectively. Sajida Haider Vandal also remained Principal of NCA for a quite long time. Both chief guests of the event appreciated the efforts of Coopera Art Gallery for such a unique show and praised the work of both the artists.

Prominent Artists and Cartoonist Dr Ajaz Anwar, Javed Iqbal and others, including Muhammad Javed paid tributes to late Pirzada. The Coopera gallery was full of artists, students and art lovers. The exhibition will continue until December 26, which will remain open from 10am to 6pm daily except holidays.

Book club event

Punjab University’s Library Book Club has successfully completed its two years while organising its December programme.

Two books were presented to student audience and faculty members. Dr Khalid Mahmood, assistant professor, Department of Space Science, delivered an interesting talk on a book of Neil DeGrasse Tyson titled “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.” He elaborated the content and concepts of astrophysics discussed in the book while connecting these with the everyday life of the humans. The second talk of the programme was on an Urdu poetry book titled “Kuliyatay Majeed Amjad” delivered by Prof Dr Khawaja Muhammad Zakariya. —Correspondent