Forum Pakistan

Agha, Zubeida (1922-97)
Artist. Zubeida Agha was a painter and sculptor who lived and worked in Islamabad. She learned painting in Europe. Between 1949 and 1988, there were numerous personal exhibitions of her work in Pakistan and abroad. From 1961 to 1977, she remained director of the Modern Art Gallery in Rawalpindi. She was awarded the President's Medal for the best work of art in 1965, and the Shakir Ali Prize at the National Exhibition in Pakistan in 1982.

Zubeida Agha is regarded as the founder of abstract art in Pakistan although she painted only a few purely abstract canvases.
In earlier works, Agha stressed primarily on the line, intending to embody a certain abstract idea; colour played a secondary role. Her later works displayed masterful technique, smooth lioes and carefully balanced drawing to create a rhythmic effect, combining form and colour in a single whole.

Her work and its influence on art in Pakistan caused her to be regarded among the best colourists in
Pakistan. .

WORKS: 'The Clown', 'A Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase Before a Window' (1977); 'A Red Flower, A Landscape' (1981).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Paintings from Pakistan, Islamabad, 1988.