Bashir Mirza PP (1941–2000), also known as BM, was a Pakistani painter.
Born in Amritsar, British India in 1941, Mirza joined the Mayo School of Arts (now National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore, where he was one of favourites of Shakir Ali. He graduated in 1962 from the department of design and was amongst the first batch of graduates of the renamed school.
He never stayed for long with one theme or style, fluctuating between realistic, abstract and non-objective styles. Mirza looked out for new ventures of earning a living. He opened an art gallery (the first ever in Karachi) at Kutchery Road in 1965 but in 1969 left town to go abroad. He also published an Art Journal called Artistic Pakistan but in 1968 sold it off. Atelier BM opened in the 1970s. He was by then running an advertising agency cum gallery and came back to art again in 1998.
He exhibited his controversial "Lonely Girl" series in 1971.
The "Lonely Girl" series was shown and gifted to the Seoul Museum when he was invited by the Seoul Olympic Committee. His exhibition "DAWN OF DEMOCRACY" was inaugurated by Begum Nusrat Bhutto and sporadic highs and lows followed in his career. In 1994 Mirza departed for Australia as Pakistan's cultural attache. By then he was sick. On his return, there were subsequent lukewarm exhibitions, the latest being at Chawkandi in August 1999.
Mirza (/ˈmɜːrzə/ or /mɪəˈzɑː/) is a historical title of Persian origin, denoting the rank of a high nobleman or Prince. It is usually defined in English as a royal or imperial Prince of the Blood.
Today, Mirza is used as a name to identify patriarchal lineage to royal aristocracies of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent. Historically, it was used as a title by and signified patriarchal lineage to the imperial families of the Turkish Empire, Persia, Circassia, Shirvan, Mughals (aka Moguls) and Muslim Rajputs. It was also a title bestowed upon members of the highest aristocracies in Tatar states, such as the Khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan.
Under Catherine the Great, empress of Russia, the Mirzas gained equal rights with the Russian nobility due to their extreme wealth. In return, the Mirzas financed her Russo-Turkish war against the Ottoman Empire. Abdul Mirza was given the title Prince Yusupov, and his descendant Prince Felix Yusupov married a niece of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
The giant mouse lemurs (Mirza) are a genus of strepsirrhine primates. Two species have been formally described; the northern giant mouse lemur (Mirza zaza) and Coquerel's giant mouse lemur (Mirza coquereli). Like all other lemurs, they are native to Madagascar, where they are found in the western dry deciduous forests and further to the north in the Sambirano valley and Sahamalaza Peninsula. First described in 1867 as a single species, they were grouped with mouse lemurs and dwarf lemurs. In 1870, British zoologist John Edward Gray assigned them to their own genus, Mirza. The classification was not widely accepted until the 1990s, which followed the revival of the genus by American paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall in 1982. In 2005, the northern population was declared a new species, and in 2010, the World Wide Fund for Nature announced that a southwestern population might also be a new species.
Giant mouse lemurs are about three times larger than mouse lemurs, weighing approximately 300 g (11 oz), and have a long, bushy tail. They are most closely related to mouse lemurs within Cheirogaleidae, a family of small, nocturnal lemurs. Giant mouse lemurs sleep in nests during the day and forage alone at night for fruit, tree gum, insects, and small vertebrates. Unlike many other cheirogaleids, they do not enter a state of torpor during the dry season. The northern species is generally more social than the southern species, particularly when nesting, though males and females may form pair bonds. The northern species also has the largest testicle size relative to its body size among all primates and is atypical among lemurs for breeding year-round instead of seasonally. Home ranges often overlap, with related females living closely together while males disperse. Giant mouse lemurs are vocal, although they also scent mark using saliva, urine, and secretions from the anogenital scent gland.
Mirza is a Persian royal title.
Mirza may refer to: