Acclaimed Pakistani artist Tassaduq Sohail dies at 87

KARACHI: Acclaimed Pakistani painter and short story writer Tassaduq Sohail has passed away in Karachi at the age of 87.

He was in a critical condition after being shifted from Islamabad to a private hospital in Clifton, Karachi.

Dreamer and Storyteller

Tassaduq Sohail, a well-known contemporary painter, was born in Jullundar in 1930 and later migrated to Lahore. His family moved him to Karachi in 1952.

In Karachi, he found a rich Urdu literary circle and joined them where he was termed as qissa-go, for his talent of tale-narrating, by Muhammad Hasan Askari, the urdu teacher and critic.

Sohail moved to London in 1961 and started painting to win female friends and to overcome his loneliness and succeeded in his objectives. But soon the painting became his passion and he joined evening classes at the St. Martin School of Art and art became his career.

His first exhibition was held in London in 1978, and over the years there have been so many that he has lost count of them. He stated, “They must be in thousands. These include watercolours, pastels, pen and ink and whatnot, but I have kept no record”.

Almost after three decades his paintings arrived at Bonham’s – the international art auction house in 2007 that gave him stature of an international artist. He spent 40 years in London and eventually shifted to Karachi.

Tassaduq Sohai, the chronic bachelor, was said to have taken inspiration from Picasso, van Goth, Ustad Allah Buksh, Colin David, Amrita Shergill and Sadequain.