http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=273600844611&ref=ts

Due to popular demand, the exhibition and book launch will now be open on

Monday 15th February and Tuesday 16th February from 11:00am to 7:00pm.

There are still books and paintings left for sale so come see what all the hype has been about!

FOMMA- Foundation for the Museum of Modern Art

BOOK LAUNCH & EXHIBITION
FRIDAY 12TH FEBRUARY 2010 AT 6:30 PM
ALLIANCE FRANCAISE DE KARACHI ART GALLERY
PLOT STREET -1 BLOCK 8, KEHKASHAN, CLIFTON - KARACHI
EXHIBITION WILL CONTINUE SATURDAY 13TH FEBRUARY, 2010 – 11:00AM TO 8 PM. REGRETS ONLY 021-34311795-8

The book is the first to be written about the art and architecture of
M A Ahed, one of Pakistan's greatest and most prolific pioneering
painters and architects.

M A Ahed attended the renowned JJ School f Arts, Bombay and went
on to complete his degree in Architecture from the Leicester College
of Arts and Technology, UK and became an Associate Member of the
Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA). He returned to Pakistan in
1951 and joined the Pakistan Public Works Department and became its
Chief Architect and in his public service career designed major
government Buildings and Townships. He served as Principal and
lecturer at the first School of Architecture in Pakistan which he helped
establish. He was the founding member of the Institute of Architects
Pakistan and also served as its President.

ln 1964 he founded the architectural firm ‘Ahed Associates’ and went
on to do maior projects of national importance such as the State Bank
of Pakistan buildings in Islamabad, Rawalpindi. Lahore and
Hyderabad and many others. He served as juror for the International
Design Competition of the Regents Park Mosque in London. UK and
donated his services for the completion of the Quaid-e-Azam
Mausoleum in Karachi for which he was awarded the
‘Sitar-e-Khidmat' by the Government and served on the QMF Board
for many years.

ln 1978 he retired from active architecture and reverted full time to his
first love of sketching and painting. He was a devotee of Indian
classical music and an accomplished player of the harmonium and
played with the likes of Roshan Ara Begum. He was well versed in
several languages, widely read and had a deep knowledge of Indian
and European Art History.

He was a founding trustee of the Foundation for Museum of Modem
Art (FOMMA) and his work has many admirers in Pakistan and around
the world.

The book launch is accompanied by an exhibition of selected works.

Quotes from M.A. Ahed
“Before I could write I could draw”

“I paint for myself, by myself”

“Colour, Texture, Composition and Form interested me. In architecture as well, I saw these to be very important.”

“…a building is not just a form… a building… must fulfill its purpose. If it does not work, then it is like a sculpture, not really architecture.”

About the author
Sheba Akhtar was bom and raised in Karachi, where she was educated at St. Joseph's Convent High School and the Karachi Grammar School. In 1984, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics from Bryn Mawr College in the United States. followed by a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1987. Ms. Akhtar is Associate Professor of Architecture at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi where she has taught the History of Architecture, Theories of Architecture and Architecture Design since 1994. She lectures and writes on architecture and on architectural education and practice.