The two Legends of Pakistani Art: Mansoor Rahi and Hajra Mansoor

Abstract

The dynamic duo of Hajra Mansoor and Mansoor Rahi is a well-known name in the Pakistani art world. Although they have differing methods of painting, with a distinct or signature style of their own, but they both have followed the concept of Stylization in their artwork. Much has been written about both the artists, but the purpose of the present research is to highlight the evolution of a singularly creative language of visual art that this famous couple of Pakistani art developed over the years, with their individual inherent aesthetic styles that create artworks which evolve in directionally different ways. Their work is critically analyzed with reference to selected paintings and the artists were also interviewed as part of this study. Where Mansoor Rahi continued to work on themes that relate to the social human condition, the phases of his work being marked as Academic Realism, Expressionism, Analytic Cubism, Rayonism, Synthetic Cubism and Neo-Social Realism, while the work of Hajra Mansoor is lyrical and poetic yet subtle with textures surfaces and dominant female figures. The aim of the paper is to mention the presence of stylization as a dominant feature of expression for both artists with reference to their subject matter, lyrical line, cubist forms and design elements as part of the research.