'Anwar Shemza chose to strike out in an individual direction entirely of his own invention'. (G. M. Butcher quoted in R. Garfield, ‘Navigating the British Landscape’, in I. Dadi (ed.), Anwar Jalal Shemza, Ridinghouse, London, 2015, p. 20)Anwar Jalal Shemza was a pivotal Pakistani artist who made history in Lahore and London. In 1952, he co-founded the Lahore Art Circle with Shakir Ali, Razzia Feroz, Miriam Shah, Sheikh Safdar Ali, Moyene Najmi, Ali Imam and Ahmed Parvez. Shakir Ali, who had studied under Andre Lhote in Paris a few years earlier, motivated his artist peers to revisit tradition while also embracing abstraction. This seminal group introduced modern and progressive ideas to the city’s art scene, establi...