Born in 1926, Gulgee had initially trained as an engineer and held degrees from Colombia University and Harvard. Initially Gulgee's artistic endeavors were not taken seriously. Meeting with the Aga Khan in the early 1950s, when the country of Pakistan was still in its infancy, Gulgee was told that the nation needed engineers not artists as 'an artist brings glory to himself'.

Gulgee's critical acclaim was received after his photo realistic commissioned portraits caught the attention of high ranking royalty and dignitaries in wider South Asia. Gulgee as an artist united the youthful Pakistani nation with the Middle East and Central Asia in a way that only an exchange of culture and art could. He was appointed as the portrait artist of numerous public figures such as the Afghan Royal family, the Crown Princes of Saudi Arabia and the Aga Khan.

He chose to use a complex and expensive process of stone mosaics, delicately creating chiaroscuro by selecting light and dark pieces of the naturally occurring semi-precious stone, lapis lazuli.

Ismail Gulgee (The Gulgeez), was an award winning, globally famous Pakistani artist born in Peshawar. He was a qualified engineer in the US and self-taught abstract painter and portrait painter. He painted the entire Afghan Royal family and went on as a noted abstract painter who was influenced by the tradition of Islamic calligraphy and American “action painting”.