Intro to Hindustani Drawing Workshop
Schedule
Sat Jun 06 2026 at 01:00 pm to 04:00 pm
UTC-04:00Location
1050 Independence Ave SW, Washington D.C., DC, United States, Washington, District of Columbia 20013 | Washington, DC
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Cost: Free; Seating is limited. You must register in advance.Learn about the materials, techniques, and imagery of Hindustani drawings with two artists traditionally trained in Pakistan and India respectively, Murad Khan Mumtaz and Manish Soni. This workshop highlights the expressive value of line through masterworks on view in Of the Hills: Pahari Paintings from India’s Himalayan Kingdoms.
Practice preparing paper and pigments as well as the fundamentals of drawing technique. Then try siyah qalam brush and ink rendering. This technique is the backbone for making and understanding Mughal, Rajput, and Pahari paintings as well as an art form in itself.
We supply all materials, including traditional squirrel hairbrushes, pigments, and paper.
Want to learn more about the master artists teaching the course? Watch the short films Portrait of a Cloud and Musavari: Colors of Tradition.
About Murad Khan Mumtaz:
Murad Khan Mumtaz is a US-based Pakistani artist and scholar. He graduated with an MFA from Columbia University in 2010 and completed his PhD in art history from the University of Virginia in 2018. He is currently an associate professor in the Art Department at Williams College.
As small acts of remembrance, Murad’s artworks meditate on traces of local cultures and histories disappearing in the globalized landscape of contemporary life. As a direct response to his scholarly research, Murad applies painting methods and techniques associated with historical Hindustani painting. More recently, he has immersed himself in traditional iconography, creating images of devotion that find expression through contemplative landscapes and figures of saints and ascetics.
About Manish Soni:
Manish Soni is a contemporary miniaturist from Bhilwara, Rajasthan, who brings centuries-old traditions to life with a fresh and curious spirit. Trained in his family workshop, he blends the precision of traditional Indian painting with his own inventive approach—experimenting with materials, techniques, and storytelling in ways that feel both timeless and new. One of his most fascinating projects is a collaboration with the art connoisseur Paul Abraham, titled Issa-namah, which reimagines the life of Jesus Christ through the visual language of the 16th-century Hamzanamah manuscript from Emperor Akbar’s court—an unexpected and captivating fusion of cultures, histories, and artistic traditions.
Soni’s work has found its way into notable private and institutional collections, and he has collaborated with the Museum Rietberg on the exhibition Ragamala: Pictures for All Senses. Always evolving, he is currently collaborating with an ustaad, his friend and comrade, Murad Khan Mumtaz, on an upcoming project.
Image Credit: Master of the first generation after Nainsukh (act. ca. 1710–1778); Radha Pining for Krishna, from a Gita Govinda manuscript; India, Himachal Pradesh state, Punjab Hills, Kangra, ca. 1775–1780; painting; opaque paints on paper; National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Gift of Mr. Paul F. Walter, F2005.7
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Where is it happening?
1050 Independence Ave SW, Washington D.C., DC, United States, Washington, District of Columbia 20013Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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