Muhammad Hanif Ramay was a painter, writer and politician whose experiments with calligraphic painting made him a pioneering figure in Pakistan’s modern art. Born on March 1, 1930, in Sheikhupura, he showed an early interest in drawing and literature but had no formal art-school training. His main artistic guidance came from Ustaad Allah Bakhsh, a master of the romantic-realist tradition, and from the calligrapher Muhammad Hussain Shah, under whom he rigorously studied Arabic and Persian scripts. This dual training in figurative painting and classical calligraphy laid the groundwork for his later innovations. Ramay’s first solo exhibition took place at the Fine Arts Department, University of the Punjab, Lahore, in 1952. During...