A distinguished artist Bashir Ahmed is a Pakistani miniature painter. He is the most prolific and significant among the miniature artists of Pakistan. He works in original Persian and mughal miniature techniques and is the head of NCA (National College of Arts) Lahore.
Bashir Ahmed Paintings are high in demand and are collected by many private collectors in Pakistan and Abroad. His Paintings can be found here at Clifton Art Gallery.
Bashir Ahmed has mastered the discipline required of a miniature painter. He studied the art of miniature painting with Ustad Sheikh Suja Ullah. Bashir Ahmed took his place as a teacher of miniature art at NCA after the retirement of Ustad Sheikh Suja Ullah in 1977. The compilation of the syllabus of miniature painting was very difficult because there was not a single previous example of academic curriculum of miniature painting in the world. He encouraged his students to create their own personal contemporary idioms.
He has made bolder attempts to break through the conventional format in order to express the ‘miniature’ in terms of tone and new materials rather than surface decoration.
He is recognized worldwide for his exceptional command over traditional techniques of miniature painting . He has exhibited extensively in country and abroad.
Professor Bashir Ahmad was born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1954. He obtained the National Diploma of Arts in 1974 from the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan. He also received Specialization in Miniature Painting with Moghul Court Painters’ descendant Sheikh Shuja-Ullah & Patiala Gharana’s Haji Sharif. In late 1970s he undertook Restoration training of traditional Moghul, Persian, contemporary, ivory miniature paintings, oil & water color paintings from Sheikh Shuja-Ullah for six years.
He qualified his Master of Fine Arts from Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan in Painting and Print-making & Sculpture in 1985. In 1982 Bashir Ahmed established the Bachelor’s Degree Programme for Miniature Painting at NCA which, to date, continues to produce many successful artists. He took a Master of Fine Arts from Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan in Painting and Print-making & Sculpture in 1985. This was followed by a degree in Master in Public Administration from the Punjab University in 2002.
