Hameed Noon
{1930 - 1995}
Single examples of this extraordinary artist are extremely limited, as he would sometimes devote many months - even years - to finessing a particular painting until it pleased his critical eye.
Born in India, Noon was raised with royalty for his father was Executive Secretary to a Maharajah and the family lived in the royal palace. At the inception of Partition in 1947, the Noon family left India and was instrumental in helping to establish what is now Pakistan. Indeed, various family members have periodically served as members of the Pakistani National Assembly.
Noon served in the Pakistani Air Force as a fighter pilot, then, spent many years in Europe. He returned to Pakistan and established a successful advertising agency in Karachi, but eventually emigrated to America to pursue his dream of fine art.
In Chicago, he formally studied the techniques and discipline of John Singer Sargent, and it was from his influence that he developed his meticulous approach of interpretation to a striking degree of photographic quality detail in portrait renderings.
It came at a price however, as his subjects complained bitterly about being required to commit to long and repeated sittings to ensure that each tiny nuance not be overlooked. The final result was inevitably stunning, and Noon’s portraits of world leaders on several continents remain personal treasures of those who commissioned them.
On very rare occasions, Noon turned to landscape painting, mostly as a personal diversion from the strain of portraiture, and it is believed that he accepted a commission to paint only a single such work - the one painting that we are presenting herewith.
THE RIVER REUSS PAINTING
Started in mid 1988, it was completed in late 1990 - and was rendered at the personal behest of a long time friend and depicts a stunning view of the Reuss River and the 14th century Kappelbrucke (Chapel Bridge - Europe’s oldest covered road bridge) in Luzerne, Switzerland, when standing on a small balcony of the medieval Castle-Gutsch.
The friend, himself an abstract expressionist painter, asked that the work present as a slightly skewed version of reality, as opposed to Hameed’s usual penchant for strict realism, as so deftly expressed in his portraits. The result is a vibrant, yet visually muted realism that excites one’s senses as they stand before the work at eye level.
Pleased with the results, the friend quipped that it was how HE remembered the view whilst standing on the balcony after imbibing several martinis. For a review of the actual setting(s) for the painting go to: http://www.pbase.com/mcerono/lucerne
RIVER REUSS, 1990, Hameed Noon, Signed & Dated. Oil on canvas. 36″ X 20″ with 4 inch-wide, high-quality, gilded, wood frame professionally installed. $100,000.00 if placed privately. $75,000.00 for bonafide museum open to the public. Contact: