Laila Shahzada

Laila Shahzada (1926 – 20 July 1994) was a Pakistani abstract painter who lived and worked in Karachi, Pakistan.

Biography Laila Shahzada was born in Littlehampton, England in 1926. She held her first solo exhibition at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi in 1960.

Personal life Shahzada married twice in her life. She had a son and a daughter from the first marriage, Sohail and Shahien. After separation from her first husband, she was given custody of their son and the first husband got custody of their daughter. She remarried and had another son, Zahir, in the second marriage but could never emotionally get over the loss of her daughter, Shahien. Later, she did a painting titled Mother and child. Some friends and art critics said that the painting was a reflection of her own pain as a mother.

"Laila Shahzada was a sensitive, disturbed and powerful artist whose brush had immense flow and impact", said Naeem Tahir, director-general of the Pakistan National Council of Arts in 2005. Pride of Performance Award by the President of Pakistan in 1995. To honor her work, a commemorative postage stamp was issued for her in 2006 by the Pakistan Postal Department