Pakistani artist Gulgee, wife, maid killed

KARACHI, Pakistan, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Ismail Gulgee, a U.S.-trained engineer who became a noted Pakistan artist, his wife Zarine and their maid were found slain Wednesday in Gulgee's Karachi home.

GEO TV quoted police as saying Gulgee, 81, and the women were killed two to three days ago.

The BBC reported the bodies were found by Gulgee's son, Amin, also an artist, who lives next door.

Ismail Gulgee, besides being an engineer, was a self-taught abstract and portrait painter who was inspired by Islamic calligraphy, and by American "action painting," GEO TV reported. He held his first art exhibition in 1950.

Gulgee's acclaimed works included a 1957 portrait of Afghanistan King Zahir Shah. His other subjects included U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, Prince Karim Agha Khan, former Iranian Princess Deeba, former Pakistan President Ayub Khan, and Saudi King Faisal.

Gulgee was also a sculptor.