Ahmed Parvez Zuberi – Life and Work Compiled and edited by Marjorie Husain

About the book: AHMED PARVEZ was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan in 1926. He was educated at St. Joseph’s College, Baramulla, Kashmir and Gordon’s College, Rawalpindi. Abandoning the world of commerce, Parvez joined the studio of his artist uncle Jacobus Michael, Lahore and in 1952 he was awarded Top Honours at the Annual Visual Arts Exhibition held at the Punjab University. Between 1952 and 1965 Ahmed Parvez exhibited his work throughout Pakistan then proceeded to London. Between 1955 and 1964 Ahmed Parvez lived in London where he married Rani. There were four children to the marriage, a daughter Noori and three sons. For a short period Parvez worked in the Pakistan High Commission, London. Parvez participated in numerous group exhibitions in Britain and countries abroad and showed his work in solo exhibitions at the New Vision Gallery, London, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Commonwealth Institute, London and Clement Stephen’s Gallery, London, before returning to Pakistan in 1964. From 1964-66 Parvez lived in Karachi where he opened a studio. He painted constantly and showed his work in Karachi and Lahore. In 1966 he moved to New York where he married Reiko. A son, Aleem, was born. In 1968, a solo exhibition of Parvez’s work was held at the Gallery International, New York. His marriage to Reiko ended and Parvez returned to Pakistan in 1969 where he lived turbulently on the sale of his work. In 1978 Ahmed Parvez was awarded the long overdue President’s Pride of Performance. A trip to Sri Lanka proved disastrous and Parvez returned within days in a state of depression. Following an exhibition in May 1979 Ahmed Parvez died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage.

About the author: MARJORIE HUSAIN is a Karachi based art critic and author. She has curated exhibitions in the UK, Germany and India as well as Pakistan. In 2003 she co-curated a historic retrospective exhibition at the Mohatta Palace Museum, Karachi. The author has written biographies of many important artists in Pakistan, including: Anna Molka Ahmed, Ali Imam, Ahmed Parvez, Bashir Mirza, Iqbal Hussain and Colin David. She has the unique distinction of preparing Pakistan’s first art education text book: ‘Aspects of Art’. She has also documented the development of art in Karachi under the OUP title: ‘Karachi, Megacity’. In her book ‘Art Views’ she has touched upon the trail of art transformation and development in pre-and post-partition Pakistan, which touched upon the works of icons such as Chughtai, Allah Bux, Zubeida Agha, Sadequain, A.R.Nagori, Gulgee and artists of the current generation. Marjorie was also the recipient of the Fatima Jinnah Award for servuces to art in 2004.