Old Musician

The subjects of Chughtai's etchings are varied but, as with his paintings, include numerous idealized images of men and women. Chughtai tended to produce several interpretations of or variations upon individual themes and motifs. The elderly musician depicted in this etching appears as a holy man or an old villager in several of the artist's other works. One of Chughtai's greatest strengths as an artist was his mastery of line, evident in the watercolor paintings and the two etchings exhibited here. This skill can be attributed to Chughtai'searliest artistic training, which he received as an apprentice to an uncle who specialized in calligraphy and ornamental design. In 1932 Chughtai spent eight months in England, where he undertook a private course in etching techniques. (Although prints had been known in India since the sixteenth century, they were not produced there in great numbers until the late nineteenth century.) Chughtai traveled to England again in 1937 to study at the London County School of Photoengraving and Lithography. Upon returning to Lahore, Chughtai established a press and, from then on, he issued numerous prints.