Nasreen

Chughtai wrote that he did not paint from models. Judging from the variation and individuality of features in his idealized images of men and women, however, he was certainly inspired by the different people he encountered. The young woman in this painting, identified by name as Nasreen, may have been known to the artist. The curves of her arching brow, long eyes, and sweeping nose are typical of the manner in which Chughtai abstracted personal facial features in his paintings and etchings. The profile format of this etching recalls much earlier South Asian painting traditions that Chughtai consciously evoked in many of his works.