Shemza’s long exploration of abstraction through shape, pattern, and language arose from his engagement with both Islamic art and Western modernism. Once noting that an infinite number of images can be made with just a circle and a square, Shemza created flexible geometric forms that often morph into textual motifs derived from the Roman and Arabic alphabets. In Love Letter I the letters "B" and "D" stack and repeat, and in their curved interlacing produce a latticed calligraphic composition. This combination of cultural elements creates a tension that may also parallel Shemza’s own experiences as an artist from Pakistan living in Britain.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Love Letter I
Artist:Anwar Jalal Shemza (Pakistani, Simla, India 1928–1985 Stafford)
Date:1969
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:36 × 23 1/8 in. (91.4 × 58.7 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Purchase, The George Economou Collection Gift, 2013
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left, in black paint): [signature in Urdu?] / [date?]; signed and dated (verso, in black paint): sh¦emza¦ / 1969 / [arrow pointing up]
the artist (1969–d. 1985; his estate, from 1985); (sale, Sotheby's, London, June 17, 1998, no. 20); ASAL Collection, London (2013; sold to MMA)
London. Hayward Gallery. "The Other Story: Afro-Asian Artists in Post-War Britain," November 29, 1989–February 4, 1990, no. 1.6 (as part of "Jali (Love Letters)").
Wolverhampton Art Gallery. "The Other Story: Afro-Asian Artists in Post-War Britain," March 10–April 22, 1990, no. 1.6.
Manchester. City Art Gallery. "The Other Story: Afro-Asian Artists in Post-War Britain," May 5–June 10, 1990, no. 1.6.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. "Anwar Shemza," November 12, 1997–February 1, 1998, no. 19.
London. Green Cardamom. "Anwar Jalal Shemza: Calligraphic Abstraction," October 9–November 6, 2009, unnumbered cat. (p. 4).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Home Is a Foreign Place: Recent Acquisitions in Context," April 9, 2019–March 12, 2020 [intended closing date June 21, 2020], no catalogue.
Iftikhar Dadi. Anwar Jalal Shemza: Calligraphic Abstraction. Exh. cat., Green Cardamom. London, 2009, pp. 3–4, ill. (color).
Iftikhar Dadi inAnwar Jalal Shemza. Ed. Iftikhar Dadi. Exh. cat., Tate Britain. London, 2015, p. 14, ill. p. 87 (color), calls it "Love Letter One".
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