Art publications, once a rarity in our art milieu, gained momentum in 2002 when the Foundation for Museum of Modern Arts (Fomma) publishing wing launched production of its series of monographs on Pakistani artists. This was rapidly followed by their volumes on contemporary art. Soon other publishing units began to produce books on art with varying degrees of emphasis on text and visual imagery and current art news too acquired regular dissemination.

Initiated in 2005 as an online newssheet the Vasl newsletter has earned its stripes as the premier news provider of new generation artist profiles, activities, events and residencies — young artists have responded actively and utilised this platform for opportunities and visibility.

Introduced in 2010, e-magazine ArtNow–Pakistan, an online, monthly, bilingual publication offering critical insight into the art of Pakistan is also emerging as an index of contemporary Pakistani art, both within the country and its diaspora. Today almost every major art exhibition is reinforced by a lavish catalogue with significant textual coverage other than reviews. Exhibition inaugurals are now given timely coverage in English daily papers in the form of informative news reports also. The most recent augmentation of art text came in the garb of a volume titled, Jamal and a newsletter called, Takhleeq.

The University of the Punjab’s College of Art and Design launched the first issue of Jamal: A Journal of Aesthetics, in March 2013. An annual research journal this publication has wider latitude than Vista, a previous publication issued by their former department of art and edited by its founder Anna Molka Ahmed from 1959 to 1961. While Vista contains archival material of use to researchers and scholars of art history, Jamal, in addition to painting and graphic design will include articles on recently introduced disciplines of architecture, textile design and musicology.

Edited by the Punjab University’s foreign faculty member Prof Dr Barbara Schmitz and research assistant Ajmal Hussain the volume echoes, what one has observed to be Punjab University’ art stance — that of exploring indigenous roots, emphasising cultural realities and keeping abreast of contemporary developments. This issue, which unfortunately has an unappealing cover is nonetheless spread over nine articles dealing with art, architecture, calligraphy and classical music.

Prof Shaukat Mahmood’s informative article, Evolution of the Tomb in Islamic Architecture traces the architectural forms used for funerary monuments as well as the vocabulary used to describe them from pre-Islamic times to the Taj Mahal. Describing Noor Jehan’s tomb in Lahore he reveals that “her body was neither buried underground nor over ground, but her corpse was placed in a beautiful wooden box and was hung in a subterranean chamber. At the upper level a cenotaph was provided … it is believed the wooden box was made of sandalwood and was embedded with precious metals and jewels and that the Sikh ruler of Lahore, Ranjit Singh, out of his sheer greed, expecting a treasure inside, removed it.”

Some cogent observations emerge in principal, College of Art and Design, Prof Dr Rahat Naveed Masud’s article, A Compendium of Love and Knowledge: Sufism and its Cultural Impact. She concludes, “Even though the present world view of Pakistan is that of country riddled with fanaticism, yet the ground reality is that the composite culture of Pakistan is still influenced by the liberal vein of tasawwuf. Site visits to the Sufi shrines reveal a degenerated version of the early Sufi ideals, yet the exploration of spirituality becomes self-evident. Sufi inspired ideals still live on in Pakistani society where liberalism and openness is a prominent feature of the social milieu and which finds expression in contemporary art, literature, dance and music.”

The first issue of Takhleeq, a Karachi School of Art (KSA) newsletter came out recently. Its main story centred on the KSA’s condolence meeting for its very first student Lubna Agha, an accomplished artist who earned considerable appreciation here before she migrated to the US. Details of gallery news, workshops and school field trips with relevant visuals were other features of Takhleeq.

Initiated and facilitated by Fomma Trust a weeklong exhibition of Pakistan art books and periodicals was held at the India International Centre (IIC) in New Delhi recently. The exhibition was formally inaugurated by the distinguished Indian poet, art critic and former Chairman of India's National Academy of Arts (Lalit Kala Akademi), Ashok Vajpeyi.

He said that “those who kept abreast of the world of art were aware of Pakistan having emerged as an important site of creativity in the visual arts and that many Pakistani artists had been visiting India, which had hitherto lacked the documentary material for understanding the context in which their wonderful works were produced. This exhibition was a revelation in showing how many beautifully designed and equally exquisitely printed books were available.”