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Unicorn Gallery is an art gallery in Lahore, Punjab, and Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.
Unicorn Gallery was set up in 2004. Unicorn Gallery was inaugurated by the Governor of the State Bank, Dr Ishrat Husain. The day of its launch Unicorn gallery displayed art by Sadequain, Ahmed Parvez, Bashir Mirza, Gulgee and others, however, three paintings by the Southeast Asian Master artist Abdur Rahman Chughtai, two of which were catalogued, titled Princess in the desert and Dancing girl, established Unicorn's name as a mainstream gallery. Abdur Rahman Chughtai, the deceased Master won wide acclaim[ by whom? ] for painting the love sonnets of the renowned poet Mirza Ghalib and philosopher/writer Sir Muhammad Iqbal. Chughtai belonged to the Bengal School of Art and painted many historical themes.
Since 2004, Unicorn has exhibited Pakistani Masters as well as Contemporary artists works internationally[ where? ]. Unicorn Gallery also has a large collection of sculptures, prints as well as semi-precious jewellery.
In 2006, Unicorn Gallery displayed a 9 by 6 foot mural by the Master artist Sadequain, titled 'Aftaab-e-Taaza' the painting featured poetry from philosopher Allama Iqbal. This piece is currently on display at the Mohatta Palace Museum in Karachi, former home of Fatima Jinnah.
Another prominent piece that was displayed at Unicorn was a large Sadequain mural titled 'Bol' illustrating the verses of Faiz Ahmed Faiz (poet).
Unicorn Gallery sold the largest Shakir Ali (1916–1975) (former professor, NCA) painting created, on board, with the verses of Mirza Ghalib 'Naqsh-e-Faryaadi'. The image of this painting is featured on 4/ rupees stamp. [1]
Unicorn Gallery was founded by Seemah Niaz, art collector and critic.
The gallery has held many exhibitions including group shows for charity organisations, socially conscious event 'Green', a tribute to the late Master artist Jameel Ahmed, titled 'The Forgotten Master'. Two artist shows featuring the paintings of Tassaduq Sohail (Pakistani naive painter) and the Indian Contemporary artist Owais Husain (filmmaker, son of Indian Master M.F. Husain), as well as a rare art festival where the art works of all major landscapes and seascapes painters were on display in the retrospective "The Golden Collection 1947-2010" including the works of Zainul Abedin and other rare East-Pakistani painters.
In January 2009 Unicorn Gallery opened a branch in Dubai, called Unicorn Space. The gallery is located in Barsha and exhibited modern miniatures from South-East Asia for the gallery's first exhibition.
Ismail Gulgee also known as simply Gulgee was a Pakistani painter artist.
Syed Sadequain Ahmed Naqvi, Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Pride of Performance, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, also often referred to as Sadequain Naqqash, was a Pakistani artist, best known for his skills as a calligrapher and a painter. He is considered as one of the finest painters and calligraphers Pakistan has ever produced. He was also a poet, writing hundreds of rubāʿiyāt in the style of Omar Khayyam and Sarmad Kashani.
Abdur Rahman Chughtai was a painter artist and intellectual from Pakistan, who created his own unique, distinctive painting style influenced by Mughal art, miniature painting, Art Nouveau and Islamic art traditions. He is considered to be 'the first significant modern Muslim artist from Pakistan', and the national artist of Pakistan.
Ahmed Parvez was a modernist painter from Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He was a member of The Lahore Group in Pakistan and founder of the Pakistan Group in London. He was also among the few early modernists of Pakistani origin to have garnered considerable critical acclaim, with solo exhibitions at the New Vision, Lincoln, and Clement Stephens galleries in London, along with exhibitions at London's Commonwealth Institute and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford between 1955 and 1964.
Bashir Mirza, also known as BM, was a Pakistani painter artist.
Muhammad Ali Siddiqui was a noted scholar of Urdu literature, educationist, literary critic and a newspaper columnist from Pakistan. He was also widely known by his pen name Ariel in Pakistan.
Ahmed Saeed Nagi, was a noted Pakistani painter artist. He was known as the 'official artist' of the Pakistan freedom movement.
Lutfullah Khan was an author, collector, archivist, and hobbyist from Pakistan. He was best known for his rare collection of voice recordings of renowned artists, poets, writers and other eminent individuals from Pakistan and South Asia.
Muhammad Arshad Khan known as MAK, is a Pakistani artist, painter, sculptor, social worker and the president of the Pakistan national committee for the World Art Games. He has painted several paintings, did not go to any art college, and learned painting from Bashir Mirza. His style of painting is identified by some as Mak Art.
Farah Mahbub (born April 10, 1965) aka Farah Jee is a Pakistani fine art photographer and a photography professor teaching at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi, Pakistan. Mahbub was awarded second prize in the fine art category at Px3.
Syed Taqi Hassan Abedi is an Indian-Canadian physician who is also poet and scholar of the Urdu language.
Ali Imam or Syed Ali Imam was an artist from Pakistan.
Shafi Aqeel was a Pakistani journalist, writer, poet, art critic and translator.
Ayessha Quraishi is a contemporary visual artist who lives and works in Karachi, Pakistan. Having received her initial art training from Karachi-based educator Nayyar Jamil, she has been working for over three decades on the development of her signature technique and visual language. Her practice often integrates various media including drawing, painting, sculpture, performance and digital photography. Quraishi is a prominent artist whose work has been widely shown, both locally and internationally. She participated in the international Istanbul Biennial in 2019. More recently in 2020, Koel Gallery presented Quraishi’s major mid-career retrospective Between Light in Karachi, featuring works spanning thirty-five years (1985-2020) of her prolific and ongoing career. Accompanying the mid-career retrospective, a comprehensive monograph was published in February 2020.
Marjorie Husain is a British artist, art critic and writer who lived in Pakistan between the 1960s and 2019. Within the country, she was a prominent figure of the art community as well as being a founding member of its first art gallery. She worked to promote Pakistani art on both the national and international levels.