Shahid Jalal

Shahid Jalal (1948 – 2020) was mentored by the late Khalid Iqbal and studied at National College of Arts in 1979-80. He exhibited his paintings in Washington, Sotheby’s London, Stockholm, Delhi and won the Punjab Painters Exhibition in 1989 as well as the President’s Award for Pride of Performance in the field of painting in 1994. He was a ‘plein air’ painter who painted outdoors. The artist seldom exhibited his paintings, and whenever he showed, his works would sell like hot cake.

Not having a formal qualification from any art institution, he developed a style of his own which is executed with thick impasto brush strokes, the surface being further divided to form a subtle pattern in his patiently executed landscapes, in which the sunlight and shadows are the other striking elements of the larger design – Paintings at Alhamra ’50 years of Lahore Arts Council’ by Dr. Mussarat Hassan.

There is nothing casual or even offhand in his work. Both the subject and the style are neat, orderly, planned, precise and refined, like the artist himself – Landscape painters, ‘Painters of Pakistan’ by S. Amjad Ali.