An artist in Lahore

Abdur Rahman Chughtai was a Lahore-associated painter whose work drew on literary and artistic traditions across South Asia. An art catalogue from DAG records that he studied at the Mayo School of Art in Lahore and exhibited with the Indian Society of Oriental Art in the 1920s. Sources disagree on his year of birth: the Asian Art Museum lists 1894, while another museum biography gives 1897. Both identify his death in 1975. This difference matters when comparing catalogues, and a precise birth year should be checked against further evidence rather than assumed.[1][3][4]

An illustrated Ghalib

The State Bank of Pakistan’s library catalogue records Muraqqa-e-Chughtai, associated with Chughtai and the poet Mirza Ghalib, as published in Lahore in 1928. The illustrated volume connects visual art with Urdu poetry and the production of books in the city. A catalogue record identifies a title, author and edition, while the images and text in a surviving copy provide the evidence for interpreting its design. Spellings of the artist’s name and the title vary in English transliteration, so searching alternative forms can help locate copies in library and museum collections. The library’s record gives the place of publication as Lahore and identifies the volume with the poetry of Ghalib.[2][5]

Painting and collections

The Asian Art Museum catalogues an etching on paper called Old Musician, giving an approximate date range of 1940–1970. Its object label discusses variations on the musician theme and describes Chughtai’s study of etching in England. The Islam Museum separately describes his work in watercolour and etching, with subjects drawn from poetry and folklore. These descriptions offer starting points for finding works and tracing how the artist is presented to later audiences. Individual object records and examination of works can clarify a painting or print’s medium, date and provenance. Care is needed when attributing a reproduction without those details.[3][4]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. DAG. 200 Years of Indian Art: exhibition catalogue ↗Written source · Source date: 2022 · Locator: Lahore training and exhibitions. Accessed 2026-11-03.Institutional catalogue, biography or dated publication inspected.Return to An artist in Lahore, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. State Bank of Pakistan Library. Muraqqa-e-Chughtai Dewan-e-Ghalib ↗Written source · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Book catalogue entry: author names, Lahore imprint and 1928 date. Accessed 2026-11-04.The catalogue record was inspected; 1928 is the book imprint, not the established publication date of the web record. A physical copy was not examined.Return to An illustrated Ghalib, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. Asian Art Museum. Old Musician ↗Written source · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Object 2005.64.32: artist dates, approximate 1940–1970 date, medium and label. Accessed 2026-11-04.Museum object record and label inspected in indexed text; the direct page presented a browser verification challenge. The physical work was not examined.Return to An artist in Lahore, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Painting and collections, paragraph 1 ↑
  4. Islam Museum. Abdur Rahman Chughtai ↗Written source · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Summary and sections on early life and artistic work. Accessed 2026-11-04.Digital museum biography inspected; it acknowledges disputed birth-year evidence. Its synthesis and cited records were not treated as a primary birth certificate.Return to An artist in Lahore, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Painting and collections, paragraph 1 ↑
  5. Partition Museum, via Google Arts & Culture. Collection Highlights from the Partition Museum, Town Hall, Amritsar ↗Museum collection presentation · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Collection highlight for a painting from Muraqqa-i-Chughtai. Accessed 2026-11-04.The museum’s collection presentation identifies a painting from the work and describes the Lahore-printed book as including Chughtai paintings and the full Diwan-i-Ghalib. The displayed work was not examined in person.Return to An illustrated Ghalib, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-PEO-0259 · English edition · human review not performed