LAHORE: Noted visual artist, poet and writer Aslam Kamal passed away in Lahore on Tuesday. He was 85.

His funeral will be held on Wednesday (today) near his residence, 568 Jahanzeb Block, Iqbal Town.

He is survived by a widow, two sons and a daughter.

Born in Sialkot in 1939, Aslam Kamal got his early education from Iqbal Memorial School and later did Bachelors from Punjab University.

Kamal was known as Iqbal’s painter. In recognition of his remarkable contribution three prestigious art galleries were established consisting of his works in Aiwan-i-Iqbal, Pharmacy College, Punjab University, Lahore, and F-9 Park, Islamabad. He had nine books on art and culture to his credit. He was honoured as one of the pioneers of creative calligraphy in Pakistan.

He was awarded the President’s Award for Pride of Performance in 1993. He was also awarded ‘lifetime achievement awards’ by Iqbal Academy Pakistan, Agriculture University Faisalabad, Lahore College for Women University and other prestigious institutions.

He painted ‘Intellectual Cosmos of Pakistan’ on nine murals in two years in Pakistan Academy of Letters, Islamabad, which is regarded as the largest painting depicting literary integration of Pakistan. For this unique achievement his name was recommended for Guinness Book of World Records. He was a reputed multidimensional figure of the world of painting and designing. He made a gigantic contribution by designing more than 20,000 dust-covers of books and periodicals over the last 50 years. In this field, his name had also been recommended for Guinness Book of World Records by Urdu Science Board, Ministry of National Heritage and Integration.

He was lucky enough to have initially encouraged by Faiz Ahmad Faiz to paint and illustrate his poetry. So, he painted Faiz’s poetry in the most individualistic and befitting manner and held numerous solo exhibitions in Germany, Norway and England. In Pakistan, Lahore Museum has the unique honour to celebrate ‘Faiz Year 2011’ with Faiz’s poetry paintings by Aslam Kamal. And this grand event inspired PNCA, Islamabad, to celebrate ‘Faiz Year 2011’ as well and pay tribute in the medium of paintings by Kamal.

In 2013, the Punjab Institute of Language, Art & Culture (Pilac) had the unique honour to exhibit paintings of marvelous poetry of Iqbal and Faiz.

Kamal also prepared a grand mural of 8 x 12 feet size under the title “Creative past of Punjab” for Pilac. This painting displayed in the Punjab Cultural Museum of Pilac describes the intellect of Sufi poets and cultural aspects of the province.

He also started another project titled “Sufi poetry on canvas” under which he was supposed to paint the poetry of Punjabi Sufi poets; however, he could complete only three paintings on Hazrat Sultan Bahu, Bulleh Shah and Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, out of nine paintings. These works are on display in the Pilac museum.

Aslam Kamal’s first meeting in 1977 with Faiz Ahmed Faiz left a deep impression on him. They met at an exhibition at the art gallery of the Lahore Museum, where Kamal’s paintings interpreting Iqbal’s poetry were on display.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2024