Building art education in Lahore

Anna Molka Ahmed was an artist and teacher closely associated with the University of the Punjab in Lahore. A university College of Art and Design newsletter says she established its Fine Arts Department in 1940, before the Partition of British India. The newsletter describes her response to an advertisement seeking an artist to open a department for women. The institution subsequently grew into the university’s College of Art and Design. Its history connects an individual teacher’s work with the students and colleagues who helped sustain art education across the profound political changes of the 1940s.[1]

Painting and place

Ahmed’s work included painting as well as teaching. A Google Arts & Culture presentation shows an oil painting titled Punjab University from the Lahore Museum collection and identifies the building as the university’s Fine Arts Department in Lahore. The image offers a connection between an artist’s own work and the institution where she taught; it is also an interpretation of a place rather than a photographic record of every detail. The presentation includes other works and information about the artist. Looking closely at an artwork’s title, medium, collection and date helps distinguish what a catalogue establishes from what a viewer infers.[2]

Teaching and remembrance

VM Art Gallery records that Ahmed studied art in London and headed the University of the Punjab’s Fine Arts Department until 1978. The gallery places her teaching career alongside her own long artistic practice. These accounts present her as both an educator and a practising artist. Her influence can be explored through her own works, institutional records and the recollections and work of former students. A tribute reflects the perspective of those remembering her, while an exhibition catalogue can help readers locate particular paintings or sculptures for closer examination. The gallery describes an artistic and teaching career spanning more than five decades.[3]

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. University of the Punjab. College of Art and Design newsletter ↗Written source · Source date: 2021 · Locator: Issue 2, printed p. 4 / PDF p. 6: Anna Molka Ahmed tribute. Accessed 2026-11-04.The college newsletter tribute was inspected for the department and advertisement; original appointment files were not independently examined.Return to Building art education in Lahore, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Google Arts & Culture; artwork in the Lahore Museum collection. Up Close With Anna Molka Ahmed ↗Written source · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Presentation text and Punjab University painting, opening section. Accessed 2026-11-04.The Google Arts & Culture presentation was inspected. Its text credits the painting to the Lahore Museum collection; the artwork was not examined in person.Return to Painting and place, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. VM Art Gallery. Anna Molka Ahmed ↗Written source · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Artist biography: education and Punjab University career. Accessed 2026-11-04.The gallery biography was inspected for London study and the stated end of the department-head role; original employment records were not examined.Return to Teaching and remembrance, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-PEO-0256 · English edition · human review not performed