Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

248 ART AND CRAFTS


Dutta (under the pseudonym ‘Mitaji’), artist Kalam
Mahmud (under names like ‘Kalam’, ‘Mahmud’, ‘Titu’,
‘Birbal’), artist Qayyum Chowdhury (under names
‘Kachow’ and ‘Chowka’) and Ranabi did cartoons for
Sandhani. In the sixties Azizur Rahman (under the name
‘Aroop’) started to do cartoons for Holiday. He did directly
political cartoons. He started to do pocket cartoons in the
Bengali daily Dainik Pakistan from 1966. Apart from this
artist Mustafa Monwar under the name ‘Montu’, artist
Hashem Khan under the name ‘Chhobi Khan’ and Sirajul
Haque under the name ‘Sarda’ did cartoons in the sixties.
Cartoons by Hashem Khan and Sirajul Haque were
published in the daily Ittefaq. Journalist Saleh Chowdhury
did some political cartoons in Awaz, Purbodesh, Paygam
and some other papers under the name ‘Anzeer.’ Another
cartoonist of the sixties was artist Shahtab.
At the end of the sixties the movement for democracy and
independence gained momentum. This was reflected in all
media of the arts. A notable publication of this pertiod is
fig. 5.9 Rafiqun Nabi, Unasatturer Chhara published in 1969 with satirical rhymes and cartoonish pictures. An
Electoral Campaign, English weekly named Forum (under the initiative of Dr. Kamal Hossain, Professor
Weekly Forum, 12 Rehman Sobhan and others) was published at that time which had cartoons as its cover
December 1970 (fig. 5.9). The publication house ‘Sandhani Prakashani’ published an English monthly
titled Express (Alamgir Kabir was involved with it). Cartoons with sharp political
comments were published in this magazine. At that time, weeklies such as Holiday,
Lalana, monthlies such as Rahasya Patrika, Samipeshu started to publish cartoons on a
regular basis. At that time Ranabi became the single dominant name in the world of
cartoons in these periodicals. In the mid 60s some organizations began to publish posters
and booklets to create public awareness about such subjects as health and education.
During the non-cooperation movement in March 1971, the banners and festoons in the
streets of Dhaka had numerous cartoons on the military rulers of Pakistan and the
conspirator Bhutto. An exhibition of such cartoons was held around Dhaka Stadium
on 23 March 1971. The famous cartoon by Quamrul Hassan ‘Annihilate these
Demons’ during the Liberation War was published as a poster and raised the mental
strength of the freedom fighters and the entire nation (fig. 4.9). Many other artists
created countless cartoons on the oppression and cruelty of the Pakistani’s over the
Bengali people which were published in national dailies, various magazines, wall-
magazines published in small areas and communities and also on hand drawn posters.
After the independence, the daily Dainik Bangla and the weekly Bichitra played the
pioneering role in the practice of cartoons. Dainik Bangla which was Dainik Pakistan
earlier, had started to publish pocket cartoons by Aroop during the Pakistan period. The
process of publishing a daily cartoon in a newspaper was thus introduced. Various social

CARTOON AND CARICATURE 249


issues of that period like price hike, hijacking, and power
failure came up as issues in the cartoons published daily
in Dainik Bangla. On the other hand, Aroop and often a
cartoonist named Tofa would do cartoons on direct
political issues. During the later part of the seventies the
artist Rafiqun Nabi (Ranabi) took up the responsibility of
doing daily cartoons in Dainik Bangla. He gradually made
the subject of the cartoons news-centric. For example, a
particular news is published on the newspaper today; a
cartoon containing a sharp comment on this news might
come up in tomorrow’s newspaper. There can be
extraordinary reactions to such cartoons on the fresh news
of the day. However, the challenge for the cartoonist lies
in the fact that s/he has to think of a cartoon within a day.
Nazrul came up as a political cartoonist in the weekly
Bichitra in the seventies. Specially, his cartoons on
international political issues of that period created a new
dimension in the world of cartoons in our country (fig.
5.11). Artists Syed Iqbal, Ahsan Habib, Mamun Reyazi, Reza, Lutful Haque, Sudhir,
Sultan, Rezaun Nabi became known as cartoonists in the seventies and eighties.
Various magazines and periodicals continued to publish cartoons irregularly at that
time. During the period, the weekly Jai Jai Din published cartoons on its cover on a
regular basis. Daily Banglar Bani, weeklies Ekota and Robbar published cartoons at
that time. But it should be remembered that for the greater part of these two decades
our country had an environment of undemocratic and intolerant culture. Naturally,
cartoons, especially political cartoons could not reach the level of maturity that they
should have. We have talked about Dainik Bangla and Bichitra, the two largest patrons
of cartoons in the seventies and eighties and they were owned by a government trust
body. Therefore, the artists who did cartoons for these papers themselves used to
calculate how far they could go. Rafiqun Nabi himself has said that they worked under
self-imposed censorship. Mohammad Jahangir has commented in an article on the
cartoons of the eighties, ‘In the
absence of a conducive
environment an alternate style
of cartoon has developed here.
This is mainly a culture of fig. 5.10 (top) Yunus,
social cartoons. ... these are ‘Thoughts of Yahya,’
basically cartoons on social Bangladesh News
problems. These are aimed at Letter, 10 November
1971
some agency or institution or
at an even more distant target. fig. 5.11 (bottom)
Readers usually smile a little Cartoon, Nazrul, 1978

250 ART AND CRAFTS


on seeing these cartoons. These cartoons generally do not excite
anybody. ...but are enjoyable. The main character of cartoons here
is that these are for mere enjoyment.’ [Trans.]
3
A cartoonist named Vincent Purification started to do collage
cartoons in the eighties. In the eighties Unmad- the cartoon
magazine made its appearance. The founder editors were
Ishtiaque Hossain and Kazi Khalid Ashraf (fig. 5.12). Unmad was
the first cartoon magazine of our country. Inspired by Mad this
magazine wants to look at personal, social, public, and private and
all other aspects of human life from a purely funny angle. The
angle is obviously oblique and there lies the fun. Even the tragic
facts of life become humorous through the way it is seen and
drawn on Unmad. Unmad gained exceptional popularity and as its
natural consequence a number of cartoon magazines were
published. However, of these only Unmad survived and became
permanent. After twenty-nine years it is still published regularly
on a monthly basis. Unmad has organized cartoon exhibitions. The current editor of
Unmad (unmadok in the language of the magazine) Ahsan Habib is a powerful
cartoonist. In Unmad some people plan the satire stories; some do the drawings while
others do the collages. This means that Unmad is a joint venture. Obviously, the
identities of individual cartoonists are not prominent here. However, among the ones
who had nonetheless achieved popularity through doing cartoons in Unmad Syed
Iqbal, Rezaun Nabi and Sultanul Islam are the most prominent.
In 1978, artist Rafiqunnabi (Ranabi) created his cartoon character ‘Tokai’(fig.5.13) on
the pages of the weekly Bichitra. Ranabi said that he had thought of a character like
this since the sixties. He thought of it when he became familiar with the character
‘Charlie Brown’ of the famous American cartoonist Schulz, who would make witty
comments, speak out unpleasant truths or make an oblique, unconventional
observation. Tokai is not exactly Charlie Brown- he is a poor, uncared for child of the
city streets. Ranabi had the opportunity of mixing with these children and observing
them closely since the time of Dhaka’s gradual growth into a city. He has felt that their
natural smartness and many of their surprisingly original observations about life make
such a character credible. His thoughts proved right very quickly. Tokai became
hugely popular and Ranabi has been making him comment about the imbalances of



fig. 5.12 (top) Cover,
Unmad

fig. 5.13 (bottom)
Rafiqun Nabi, Tokai,
1984

CARTOON AND CARICATURE 251


our social life continuously for about three decades now. It is a matter of surprise that
no other cartoon character has been created yet in our country despite the fact that
since the arrival of Tokai the prestige of cartoons has increased manifold and cartoons
have become much richer.
After 1971, the most important political movement was the one against the dictator
Ershad in 1989-90. After almost 18 years, Quamrul Hassan created another cartoon
type picture which created as great a stir as the one featuring Yahiya titled Annihilate
these Demons (fig. 4.9). This one was called Desh Aj Bishwabehayar Khappare (The
country is in the clutches of the universally shameless one) (fig. 4.10). However, here
he has taken recourse to metaphors.
Since the nineties a democratic process has come into being in our country after
crossing many hurdles and despite having incompleteness and failures, it continues to
thrive. Perhaps the cartoon has become a wide spread phenomenon in the last one and
a half decade as a natural consequence of this process. During this period, political
cartoons have gained wide acceptance. Some of the daily newspapers have played
pioneering roles in this process. Shishir Bhattacharjee has appeared as a political
cartoonist in this period. The originality of his thought process, characteristics of his
drawings have made cartoons an important part of our political culture. The
newspapers which patronize him have played a major role in this. Shishir Bhattacharjee
has done cartoons by matching the portraits of the helmsmen of our society- a trend
which was virtually non-existent in our cartoon culture. This very trend has increased
the acceptability and popularity of the cartoon and reactions to the cartoon has become
multi-dimensional. Although others are doing cartoons based on portraits, the strength fig. 5.14 Shishir
of Shishir’s drawing has given his cartoons a special place in this arena. Shishir Bhattacharjee, ‘Magical
Bhattacharjee started his journey as a cartoonist in the eighties when he was a student. method to frighten the
The students and teachers of the Dhaka University protested strongly against the Government…,’ Dainik
initiative of the military government to reduce the autonomy of the university. At that Prothom Alo, 6 April
time Shishir did a cartoon on this subject in a magazine published by the Dhaka 1999
University Central Students Union.
That cartoon attracted huge attention.
During the later part of the eighties he
started to do cartoons on a regular basis
in the weekly Ekota (The spokesman of
the Communist Party of Bangladesh).
In the nineties he did daily cartoons in
Ajker Kagoj. Later on the dailies Bhorer
Kagoj and Prothom Alo published his
political cartoons (fig. 5.14).
Owing to the success of cartoons by
Shishir, in the last one decade political
cartoons have become an important

252 ART AND CRAFTS


presentation in our newspapers. The editors of newspapers have come to understand
the demand for cartoons and their ability to give new dimension to news. Presently,
almost all the newspapers publish cartoons regularly. One can often see a cartoon in
four-color on the front page of a newspaper with the lead news. Cartoonists who are
doing regular cartoons now include Quddus, Bipul, Shahriar, Huda and others. Some
of the dailies now come up with a weekly satire magazine. These include Alpin of
Prothom Alo and Bichchhu of Jugantor. Cartoon is a must for these publications. On
the other hand, these publications also create opportunities for new cartoonists.
The technology of the cartoon has changed with the technological evolution of the
printing press. Zinc block came after wood block. The first generation cartoonists of
our country preferred to work in line drawing so that the print quality would be good.
Because, a solid drawing may be ruined if the half tone block was not of good quality.
The printing press graduated from the age of the letterpress and entered into the off-set
printing era. The facilities of making positives and doing color separation by scanning
became available at one stage. After that came the computer. Now not all the artists are
doing their works on paper using ink, brush, nib etc. Some are drawn directly in the
computer, some are corrected using different software while some are edited, added
and deducted using the computer. Now color is used in cartoons published in
newspapers. Software is used to bring in changes in the photographs to be used in
cartoons. The visual presentations of printed matters have been mostly benefitted by
the introduction of digital technology in the publication industry. Obviously, as a visual
medium cartoon is one of the major beneficiaries of this technology.
Cartoon is supposed to criticize while being a source of pleasure. This happens on the
page of the newspaper which is part of the mass media. Naturally, the issue of
censorship comes into consideration. We have already stated in this article that our
culture of democracy is neither very strong nor very old. For a major part of the last
half century in which cartoons have been published in papers and periodicals we did
not have a democratic system of governance in place. In our social and family
environments tolerance is not a very easily available virtue. In the eighties journalist
Mohammad Jahangir comments, ‘… We have not yet been able to create such a
democratic society or independent newspaper where a cartoonist can use full
creativity in doing cartoons.’ [Trans.] At the same time cartoonist Ranabi has written,
4
‘The political arena of Bangladesh is not well organized. The democratic process is
often missing which leads to drawing a line in presenting issues in publications. As it
is difficult to define the boundary line, one cannot do whenever, whatever one wishes
to do in cartoons. … It has been seen that although there is no direct government
restriction yet the newspapers themselves impose some sort of censorship according
to habit or to avoid taking risk in many matters.’ [Trans.] Needless to say that these
5
statements were made two decades back. Currently, with the democratic system
prevailing for one and a half decades, the situation has improved to an extent. The
proof of this may be seen in the cartoons published daily in newspapers. But the
cartoonists of this generation also agree that the cartoonists themselves draw a line for

CARTOON AND CARICATURE 253


themselves. This means, a self-imposed censorship is at work. We can say for
argument’s sake that, perhaps, this happens in every society.
We can investigate the influence of cartoon in our society as an extremely social art-
medium. It is known that the first prime minister of India, Jawharlal Nehru, used to
say to the cartoonists, ‘Don’t spare me!’ One can take it as an example of tolerance on
one hand and on the other this may be considered as an excellent strategy to maintain
good relations with the cartoonists. It is also known that chief minister of undivided
Bengal, Sher e Bangla Abul Kashem Fazlul Haque, used to maintain a friendly
relationship with cartoonist Piciel. We can here quote a comment of the Indian
cartoonist Chandi Lahiri, ‘I think a cartoon rarely forms public opinion. If you can do
a cartoon on an issue which is already a part of public opinion or related to public
interest then the cartoon becomes very popular overnight.’ [Trans.] Perhaps the
6
process works in this way. If one can do a good cartoon on a subject which has already
created anger, sadness, or fun in the public mind then it resonates ripples. Therefore,
the challenge for the cartoonist is to be knowledgeable about the whims and caprices
of the public mind and to find the subject which might hit the bull’s eye. But there is
also an opinion among cartoonists that even if a cartoon can build up public opinion,
the political leaders of a country like ours where the democratic structure is weak, can
easily ignore its impact. In fact, it is to be considered how far they bother about public
opinion at all! Rather, there are political leaders who prefer to become subjects of a
cartoon of a popular cartoonist and see their picture on the front page of a newspaper.
Nevertheless, it can be said unquestionably that cartoon is a part of social expression
in a pluralist society. The cartoonists do not give birth to an agenda- it is not their
responsibility as artists. But through creating a cartoon on an agenda, which has come
into being as a result of social and political activities, cartoonists using their
sensibilities, sense of history, sense of humor and sense of responsibility to society can
contribute as a positive catalyst. We may think that the practice of cartoon has been
progressing in this manner for the last half decade in our country.


Notes and References
1. Dineschandra Sen, Brihat Banga, (Calcutta 1993), 439.
2. Partha Mitter, Art and Nationalism in Colonial India 1850-1920 (Cambridge 1994), 159
3. Mohammad Jahangir, ‘Cartoon O Amader Sangbadpatra’, Niriksha, 39th Issue, Editor: Kamal Lohani
(Bangladesh Press Institute, October-December 1985), 35.
4. Ibid., 35.
5. Ibid,. 26.
6. Chandi Lahiri, Cartooner Itibritto, (Public Media Center, Information and Culture Department,
Government of West Bengal, December 1995), 62.

6




CONCEPTUAL ART AND NEW TRENDS

Nasimul Khabir

Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy organized an exhibition, on contemporary Asian art,
called ‘Asian Art Bangladesh’ in 1981. Later on, this particular exhibition started
taking place regularly as a Biennale. In the second exhibition in 1983, three Japanese
artists – Yoshio Kitayama, Shigeo Toya and Shinji Tsuneki – exhibited their works.
They used bamboo, paper, leather, pebbles, live plants, plaster of Paris, burnt wood
and such other non-permanent materials in creating their works. This exhibition
provided the local artists and viewers their first direct experience of the new
conceptual trend in art, which was different from the conventional works of painting
and sculpture (fig. 6.1).
Koichi Yasunaga, the curator of the Japanese presentation said, ‘In response to the
trends of Minimal Art and Conceptual Art in the United States and Europe from the
end of the 1960s to the beginning of the 1970s, in Japan, as well, there was movement
which denied the formality of “sculpture” and “painting” of the past and attempted to
re-examine the purpose of art itself. In Japan especially, installation involving the
fig. 6.1 Yoshio placement of “objects” themselves - such as wood, paper, rocks - at meeting places in
Kitayama, 3 Words the attempt to alter the relationship between man and “objects” formed the
Flow into the Sea, 1983, mainstream. The artists are called the “MONO-HA”..’ 1
wood, bamboo, paper, To express the identity of these Japanese artists of the new conceptual trend, Yasunaga
leather, lead, copper wrote, ‘Among them were artists who continued the work of the “MONO-HA” of the
1970s –artists who rejected the
conceptuality of a single piece, but
worked to convey a direct experience
through the use of elements such as wood,
paper and rocks, not merely brought out
as such, but worked and formed. In
addition, many artists appeared who
actively attempted to incorporate into
their own works elements which were
disavowed in the 1970s such as
illusionism, imagery, symbolism, etc. The
five young artists being displayed this

CONCEPTUAL ART AND NEW TRENDS 255


time are of this milieu with their own unique brand of originality, and who present a
high standard of artwork.’ 2
The subsequent Asian Art Biennales of Bangladesh continued to exhibit Japanese
installations based on this new trend. These innovative, versatile and massive
installations have always been praised and awarded by the juries of the Biennales.
The Existing Process and the New Trend
The innovative installations presented in the Asian Biennales had a strong influence on
the current art practices in the country and encouraged new experiments. The visual arts
are undeniably of an evolutionary and innovative nature. Therefore, it is necessary to
define first which types of arts are being identified as ‘new trend’ in the context of the
contemporary visual arts of Bangladesh. In parallel, it is necessary to determine the scope,
form, and reality in the context of continuing trends in the visual arts and the conventional
formal structure of the contemporary visual arts in relation to the ‘new trend.’
When the topic of the contemporary visual arts of Bangladesh is raised, it is naturally
identified with the unilateral practices belonging to the ‘modernist mainstream.’ This
mainstream or ‘modern art’ excludes the pre-colonial local practices and denotes what
was approved and patronized, directly or indirectly, by the British colonial rulers
(1757-1947) - which stream, in the post-colonial era, continued to flow with the
indirect endorsement of the western, i.e. European and North American, trends. This
stream of art is urban and believes in universality, and at the same time, in nationalism.
Whether it is good or bad can be a subject of debate, but these are the fundamental or
primary characters and facts of this stream in terms of construction, form, aesthetic fig. 6.2 Hamiduzzaman
response, style of presentation, marketing practice, etc. Khan, installation,
During the colonial rule, a government art school was established in Kolkata in 1854 metal, wood and fabric,
that resulted in the development of institutional education in art in the then undivided 1976
Bengal. Because of this development, the mainstream visual arts
continued to grow within institutional capacity in post-partition
East Pakistan (1947-1971) and later in liberated Bangladesh (1971).
Though partition and liberation added diverse subjects in the realm
of arts, it did not cause any fundamental change in its form or
presentation. Just after partition, attempts were taken to incorporate
local folk art in the mainstream. On different social and political
issues such as independence, nationality, language, etc. art played a
noticeably active role. Some of the second-generation artists came
back to the country with higher education on art from the west.
Their leadership inspired art in the Abstract Expressionist style
during the 1960s and this trend continued after liberation. Before
the Asian Biennales, that is until the 1970s, the limitation of
contemporary Bangladeshi art was its lack of connection with
world art. In the 80s, because of the Asian Biennales, together with
higher education in different countries and participation in

256 ART AND CRAFTS


international exhibitions, Bangladeshi
artists started going abroad more
frequently. Advent of information
technology, public media and
international trade also contributed to
clearer appreciation of the new trends
of world art by the artists of the
country. Consequently, changes could
be noticed in the works of the young
and even senior artists.
The visual influence of this new
Conceptual trend was first noticed in
the works of the sculptors.
Hamiduzzaman Khan and Alak Roy
fig. 6.3 Alak Roy, used unconventional elements and multiple media in the structure and presentation of
Prakritir Sathey their sculptures (figs. 6.2, 6.3). This particular quality can also be noted in the works
Basabas (living with of Kalidas Karmakar. Relatively young artists attempted to follow the alternative and
nature), mixed media, Conceptual trends from within the existing traditional structure. Signs of
2001 thoughtfulness were noticed among the organized young artists of the 70s. The
creations of the Dhaka Painters are examples of the use of objective-oriented pre-
thinking in experimental visual composition. In the 1980s, the Shomoy group
expressed social awareness and denial of the market through their works. Their works
attempted to create alternatives to the western formalistic trends. Japanese installation
and performance arts particularly influenced the practice of Conceptual new trends in
the country. However, Bangladesh being a post-colonial country, features of post-
colonialism are present in its contemporary visual arts, as in all its other areas. The
main structure of the mainstream contemporary arts of Bangladesh, also termed as
modern art, was in fact created in the British era. For this reason, despite an effort to
construct parallel local characteristics, the influence of the west on the modern arts of
the country is undeniable. It is important to throw light on its western background in
order to identify the origin and ancestry of Conceptual Art and new trends in the visual
arts of Bangladesh.
Conceptual Art and its Western Background
In the 1970s, a tendency towards creating art in quantities that was comparatively
different in dimension and characteristics could be distinctly noticed in the mainstream
visual arts of the West - essentially in Europe and North America. Versatile presentation
and the use of unconventional elements made it different from traditional art. Breaking
the structure of traditional constructional elements of painting and sculpting, such as
the use of the painted canvas and pedestal-based sculpture - many different alternative
presentational trends established their position in the world of the visual arts. These
alternative presentations include, on their own or in combination with the traditional
modes of painting and sculpting, elements such as groups of words, photographs,

CONCEPTUAL ART AND NEW TRENDS 257


mummified animals, furniture and even fig. 6.4 (top) Marcel
the performance-based participation of Duchamp, Fountain,
the artist or of persons employed by the 1917
artist. Consequently, art was elevated to
multidimensionality from the fig. 6.5 (bottom) Allan
customary frame-based two- Kaprow, The Court
dimensionality or altar-based three- Yard, 1962
dimensionality. At the same time,
classification of the visual arts into
painting, lithography, sculpture, etc.
became meaningless. One special
feature of this alternative trend is its
non-permanence. Therefore, after being
exhibited for a temporary period inside
or outside the gallery, these alternative
artworks usually survive only in
photographs and documentaries. Since the artist is acquainted beforehand with the
location and the surrounding of the planned presentation, these works are usually site-
specific. Depending on the characteristics, this alternative trend of the visual arts has
been given various names from the beginning, such as - happenings, earthwork,
performance, installation, etc. Though this alternative trend flourished in the west in the
1970s, it is actually of much earlier origin.
When, during World War I, various formal experimental works were being created
alongside representational works in the western modernist mainstream art, we could
also observe the signs of an intense anti-traditional liberal practice in the Dadaist art
movement. In addition to mocking solemn traditional art and social values, the
Dadaists particularly attempted to contribute to elevate the structure and consciousness
of art. Presentation of ready-mades such as Marcel Duchamp's Fountain, a urinal
signed R. Mutt, in the exhibition of American Society of Independent Art
in 1917 can be identified as the examples of the beginning of the
alternative consciousness in North American art trends (fig.6.4). World
War II changed the center of world art just as it changed the center of
global political leadership. The mainstream crossed the Atlantic. North
America acquired the leading role in world art. Under American
leadership, Abstract Expressionism became the leading movement in world
art. By organizing Abstract Expressionist painting exhibitions in eight
cities of Europe, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) of New York
attempted to establish it as the art of the new era. However, by that time,
the alternative trend had already started flourishing in the west.
The performance-based ‘happening’ by Allan Kaprow titled Court Yard in
the premises of Hotel Miles in New York gave rise to controversies
(fig.6.5). Concern was raised whether the introduction of performance into

258 ART AND CRAFTS


the visual arts would eventually lead
this art towards the theatre. George
Segal, a contemporary artist of
Kaprow, created a figure-based
sculpture and installed it in the actual
compartment of a train in order to give
it an image of the atmosphere (Subway,
1968). The Fluxus movement got
under way at the beginning of the 60s,
and attempted to popularize music and
performance based ‘happenings’.
Young artists in Germany and France
pursuing alternative trends began to
join this movement. George Maciunas
(1931-1978) organized regular exhibitions of happenings in his own gallery ‘AG’ and
also published a journal on art. The objective of the journal was to protest against the
disconnection between art and life and to promote live art which would be understood
by everyone, not only the critics, experts and artists.
Not only in happenings and performance art, artists began to create various art forms
in assemblage, Pop and even Minimal Art developed in response to Abstract
Expressionism. These became difficult to define within the traditional concept of
painting or sculpture.
From the very beginning of the 70s, the doctrines of the mainstream visual arts of the
west were severely questioned. Conceptual Art in the visual arts thrived on the
described background of the 60s. Instead of being material-based Minimalism, art
became ‘art as idea’ or ‘art as information’ (fig.6.6). Prominence of idea and
information can also be noticed in assemblage and Pop Art. Artists of the alternative
trend also questioned the classification of high and low art as well as all other
conventional classifications of arts. A part of the alternative trend artists began to
create presentations in nature instead of the art market, which is the gallery. Apart
from protesting politically against the gallery and market, another reason for creating
these artworks in nature was the availability of materials. This gave birth to a new
trend of art - site-specific artworks or earthworks, their examples being the works of
fig. 6.6 (top) Joseph Robert Smithson, Nancy Holt or Christo (fig.6.7). A part of these artists also made use
Kosuth, Art as Idea as of the art galleries, by showing
Idea, photostat, 1966 works through recorded videos,
photographs or animation. Art
fig. 6.7 (bottom right) began to include and develop
Christo Javachef and different socio-political issues.
Jean Claude, fabric,
5.5×39 mtrs., North Anti-class, anti-third world
California theory, anti-racist and feminist

CONCEPTUAL ART AND NEW TRENDS 259


consciousness, environmentalism, fig. 6.8 (top left) Joseph
etc. appeared as the subjects of Beuys, Coyote: I like
art. For this, the new trend of America and America
presenting arts became especially Likes Me, performance,
useful. Postmodernist doctrines New York, 1974
also evolved in the visual arts as fig. 6.9 (bottom)
in literature and architecture - Mahbubur Rahman,
and this new conceptual trend Waiting for the Heaven,
became a special vehicle of wood, fabric, camphor,
Postmodernist art. Bangladesh Shilpakala
Throughout the 70s, Conceptual Academy, Dhaka, 1994
Art flourished swiftly in North
America and Europe. Installation and performance art created by Joseph Beuys (fig.
6.8), Christo and others began to spread extensively. At the same time, rapid
development of information technology and globalization of economy started
reducing geographic distances. As in the case with globalization of products, in art
also the regional and continental distinctions started to diminish. Consequently, the
differences between the presentations of art in Dokumenta of Germany or exhibitions
of Venice or Sao Paulo and the creative trends of Asian artists began to fade away. The
new trends began to be practiced in Japan and other Asian countries.
Conceptual Art and New Trends: Introduction and Reaction
Bangladeshi artists began to be acquainted, mainly through information technology,
publications, etc, with the newer trends in art that thrived in the west during the 1970s.
Experiencing the installations and performances presented in the Asian Biennales also
worked as an influencing factor. Young art students who assisted the Japanese artists in
creating and presenting their installations became particularly interested in this new
conceptual trend. Even though the artist community of Bangladesh had been visually
experiencing installation and performance art since the 80s through the biennales, there
was not much interest to practice the new trend before the 90s. In the mid-90s, several
installation and performance art presentations took place in Bangladesh. Mainly the
young student artists organized these various
presentations in Dhaka. The sculptures of
young artist Mahbubur Rahman obtained
national recognition as well as international
attention. It should be mentioned that
Mahbub, like Hamiduzzaman and Alak Roy,
was at this time an enthusiast in multiple-
medium sculptures and in art created from a
combination of materials instead of a
conventional single form. He was invited to
the fourth Asian Art Exhibition organized in

260 ART AND CRAFTS


the Fukuoka Art Museum in Japan in 1994. He organized an exhibition of installation
work – made from wood, cloth and camphor - titled Waiting for the Heaven in the gallery
of Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka before leaving for Japan as an invited artist (fig.6.9). In
the second half of the same year, three young student artists of the Institute of Fine Art,
Dhaka University - Mahbubur Rahman, Tayeba Begum Lipi and Nasimul Khabir -
organized an environmental art camp in the hilly backdrop of Lama, Bandarban – a
district situated in the southeast of Bangladesh. In this ten-day workshop, an initiative of
their own, from 16th to 26th December, they practiced – in place of conventional art -
environmental art, earthwork, installation and performance art. They closely observed
the life and culture of the local tribal and immigrant Bengali communities in this
workshop titled Towards Nature: In Search of Art and Life. As a response to their
observations, the artists practiced various temporary works of installation and
performance art using environment-friendly and local materials.
Almost at the same time, in the annual exhibition of the Institute of Fine Art which
started on 19th December, a considerable number of student artists ventured to present
diverse and interesting installations at the premises of the Institute. These installations
were exhibited till January 1995. Next month, a post-graduate student of the same
Institute, Abhijit Choudhury, created different forms using pieces of wood, colored rags
and paper and installed them in natural and man-made environment and exhibited an
audio-visual presentation titled Shobdo Kolpo Chitro with photographs of the installation
along with music, on the Language Martyrs Day of 21st February. In the same year, on
the Independence Day of 16th December, Abhijit and his classmate Humayun Kabir
Bahar jointly organized an exhibition of installations. On this exhibition of Bahar and
Abhijit, Syed Manzoorul Islam, a professor of the Department of English in Dhaka
University, said, ‘Though the tradition of installation art is not new to the West, it is very
recent in our country. In fact, installation in the true sense has hardly been practiced in
Bangladesh. This art is considered Post-modern because it revolts against the
conventional concept of art by abandoning many of its elements.’ [Trans.]
3
Bahar and Abhijit, along with another companion Nazimuddin, ventured yet another
installation in the courtyard of the Institute of Fine Art on the Bengali New Year in
1996. The installation featured prints – and the participation of Nazimuddin, a mime-
artist, added the element of performance in the presentation.
Earlier in 1995, on the occasion of the Bengali New Year, two students of the same
institute, Moniruzzaman Shipu and Saleh Mahmud, arranged a performance-
installation work where they enclosed themselves in a cage. In the promotional
materials for this presentation, they termed it as Life Installation. In the exhibitions of
the young artists like Ahmed Najib, Rashedul Huda and others, installation-type
presentations could be noticed alongside traditional canvas and pedestal-based works.
It should be mentioned that the trend of creating installations that began in 1994 and
95 soon faded away and lost its continuity. The creators of almost all those
installations were young art students. They were also involved in academic art

CONCEPTUAL ART AND NEW TRENDS 261


practice. Thus after several fig. 6.10 (top) Wakilur
endeavors resulting from Rahman, Smaraknama
the student artists’ interest (memorial), paper,
in novelty, almost all of fabric, thread, etc.
them went back to the Bangladesh Liberation
War Museum, 1997
conventional art forms.
Besides, most of these fig. 6.11 (bottom) Ashok
works were presented and Karmaker, A Close
practiced in the confines of Encounter with Violent
the courtyard of the Kind, mixed media, 10 th
Institute of Fine Art. Asian Art Biennale,
Consequently, these Dhaka, 2001
presentations could not
reach a wider audience
beyond that of the students and teachers of art. Though these presentations received
instant appreciation from a limited circle, they were unable to create any impact on
society. And also this initiative failed to gather well-defined characteristics of a
movement. Despite the loss of interest among the student artists, some of the senior
artists attempted to add new dimensions to this unconventional trend. They attempted
to create a kind of environmental artwork focusing around subjects like Independence,
Liberation War, Language Movement, etc.
The artists of the Shomoy group, formed during the 80s, organized an exhibition after
a long gap in the Shilpakala Academy of Dhaka in 1995. The exhibition that took place
from 16th to 28th April was a continuation of their previous practice. However, some
of the works that were presented in this exhibition were installation-type. Lala Rukh
Selim, who had earlier been involved in terracotta sculpture, presented works made of
paper, sand and such other temporary materials. Towfiqur Rahman’s presentation of a
work made of water, polythene etc. was also installation-type. Wakilur Rahman, now
an expatriate in Germany, organized an exhibition entitled Smaraknama in a room of
the Liberation War Museum in Dhaka (fig 6.10). He converted the paper cuttings, of
news by the local journalists published during the period between 1995 and 1997 about
the current condition of people affected by the war of independence, into the forms of
250 books and hung those in the gallery. In contrast to the elite characteristics that the
subject of independence was gaining through
mainstream art and intellectual practices, this
installation was aimed at creating an
alternative study of independence.
Ashok Karmaker presented an exhibition titled
Kalratri or Dark Hour in Shilpakala Academy
focusing on the brutal genocide by the Pakistani

262 ART AND CRAFTS


Army on 25th March, 1971 - at the very beginning
of the liberation war. The fortnight-long exhibition,
that started on 3rd October 1996, incorporated
dramatic use of light and shade, and also music. A
printmaker and illustration artist Ashok Karmaker’s
involvement in stage design was reflected in these
installation works. The sponsors of this exhibition
were some local industrial enterprises including
Partex Group. He participated, with the same
works, in the first Asian Triennial of the Asian Art
Museum in Fukuoka, Japan in the year 1999.
UNESCO declared 21st February as the
International Mother Language Day in the year
2000. In order to celebrate this event, Ashok
presented an installation titled Right to Mother
Language from Ekushey to the World organized by the Shilpakala Academy of
fig. 6.12 Kalidas Bangladesh. Under the supervision of Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam, a presentation of
Karmakar, Alluvial Bangladeshi artworks was exhibited as part of the South Asia Art Exhibition organized by
Freedom, nature, mud, the Commonwealth. Ashok’s installation titled Life of Fishermen, Life in Water was part
water, fire etc.,
Bangladesh, 2000, 2003, of this exhibition. Ashok has been participating with his installations in all the Asian
1999, 1992 Biennales since 1996 (fig.6.11).
In an exhibition of the senior artist Kalidas Karmakar- titled Liberation Seventy-one –
Homage to Blue - organized in 1997, he presented a different trend of work alongside
traditional ones. While conventional paintings hung on the walls, in the middle of the
gallery, a group of white human figure-like sculptural structures were left lying around-
symbolizing the genocide of the Liberation War. In a corner of the exhibition, he placed
a row of TV monitors, which showed the videos of some environmental works by the
artist (fig. 6.12). Along with the issues of national sentiments such as the Liberation War,
Independence, etc, everyday social and political crises became the subjects of installation
and performance works. Architect and artist Enamul Karim Nirjhar, organized an unusual
exhibition in the Russian Cultural Center in Dhaka in 1997 titled Self-Centered
Expression. In the exhibition, held on 14th and 15th June, Nirjhar presented the current
social and political crises of the country to the viewers by hanging mirrors, paper cuttings
and verses from various poems around the exhibition room.
An exhibition of Mahbubur Rahman titled Expo-City Crisis took place in the Alliance
Française in Dhaka from 4th to 14th November and in Chittagong’s Shilpasamannaya
Center from 21st to 27th November. In these consecutive exhibitions, instant painting and
performance based on the exchange of opinions with the viewers were presented along
with traditional sculptures and paintings. The purpose of this exhibition was to depict
urban problems such as unplanned growth, black fume and other environmental pollution,
traffic jam, mugging, etc. According to the artist – ‘This Expo is not to be remembered as

CONCEPTUAL ART AND NEW TRENDS 263


a visual exhibition but an experience with mixed feelings.
The outburst of anger, grief and tension prevailing in the
minds of the city dwellers will find expression in colors and
forms instead of printed alphabets.’ The sponsor of
4
Mahbub’s exhibition was Bangladesh Tobacco Company
(now British American Tobacco).
Installations could also be observed as a medium for
reacting against political misdeeds. Student artist of
Chittagong University, Sanjay was brutally murdered by
an Islamic fundamentalist group in 1998. Deeply
aggrieved and shocked by this death, his teacher Dhali Al
Mamoon created an installation.
Mamoon had been involved in painting and printmaking
since the 80s. His first installation was created by transforming and installing a sampan
(a traditional boat of Chittagong) in the university campus as part of a festival on the
occasion of convocation in 1998. But Sanjay’s death was a critical influencing factor for
him to continue his work on a regular basis in this new medium.
“The tragedy so deeply shocked him that when ‘Shilpasamannaya’, an art activity center
in Chittagong, decided to hold an exhibition in memory of the deceased, Mamoon
plunged himself in reconstructing symbolic images of Sanjay’s death in three-dimensional
formats. This experience made him aware of the communicative power of the art of
installation and aroused in him an interest in the practice of this new means of expression.
Since then, Mamoon has executed some five or six installation projects at home and
abroad which addressed such contemporary issues as fundamentalism, terrorism,
aggression and communal and racial marginalization of the minority people.” 5
Mamoon presented installation projects in Dhaka’s Jojon Art Gallery in 2000 and in a
workshop organized by Britto in 2003. In 2004, he presented a series of exhibitions in fig. 6.13 (top) Dhali Al
Dhaka and Chittagong titled Water is innocent! These exhibitions depicted, with Mamoon, Water is
mechanical technology and video projections, the conflict between the marginalized Innocenti, galvanized tin
sheet, glass, iron,
ethnic communities and the majority aluminum, wood, wire,
people (fig.6.13). bulb, electric motor,
Nisar Hossain’s exhibition that took printed transparent
place in the month of March 2002 titled sheet, painting, video
Ghatoker Protikrity (Portrait of a Killer) and water, Alliance
focused on the continued terrorism and Francaise, Chittagong
self-destruction occurring in the political and Bangladesh
and social life in Bangladesh (fig.6 14). National Museum,
Dhaka, 2004
This exhibition was organized in a
private gallery called Gallery Twenty- fig. 6.14 (bottom) Nisar
one. In this exhibition, Nisar made use of Hossain, Hungry Coffin,
different media such as installation, installation, 2002

264 ART AND CRAFTS


photomontage, collage, etc. to question the normality of life and art flowing parallel to the
perpetual violence of these times. Through the alternative study of utility products,
materials and traditional art forms, he presented his chosen subjects in different
arrangements. By turning a beautiful abstract canvas of the senior artist Mohammad
Kibria, he placed a spectral portrait on it - and presented this rearranged canvas as the
image of a killer. Symbolic use of photomontage of red plastic chair, featherless body and
head of a slaughtered chicken etc. was a feature of this exhibition.
The photomontages were created by placing the alternative arrangement of the
abstract painting of Kibria as the murderer’s image, or the red plastic chair, in various
political, social and natural settings like the parliament building, monuments built on
the site where the intellectuals were executed during the Liberation War, butchers’
shop, or lovely paddy field, flower shop, riverbank etc. Nisar inspired the viewer of
his art into self-examination. He presented the killer’s image also with photographs of
his self-portrait a coating of white showing various ferocious facial expressions with
paint on the face. He positioned a looking glass at the center of the portraits where the
viewers’ images were reflected. He attached to the looking glass a paper cutting where
the news of a father murdering his son for the sake of religion had been published.
This presentation by Nisar Hossain was discussed in the contemporary media as a
notable artistic attempt in the new trend. It was observed, in the context of the local
practice, ‘…Nisar [has] done more than the cosmetic work in his postmodern
exposition. He has suggested an alternate textual reading of our present day living in
this country. His vision is not anarchic; it merely meets our everyday perception of
fear, insecurity, greed, thirst for blood and the crisis of our identity.’ 6
Organized Efforts towards New Trends
The endeavours of the 90s were isolated and sporadic, and to an extent rather casual
and romantic. They were spontaneous practice locally adopted from mostly western
and some Asian countries. Though the scenario has not changed much, from around the
year 2000 a conscious creative effort can be observed in the artworks of the new trend.
Expression of societal issues is a special feature of such Conceptual artworks created
until now in the country. It is also observed that these installation and performance
works have been inspired, as far as their subjects are concerned, by the societal issues
raised by the western media and the heated issues of local development activities
undertaken by the donor agencies. Simultaneously, various issues emphasized by the
local media such as liberation, nationality, etc and internationally debated issues such
as fundamentalism, environmental pollution, etc. have easily become the topics of such
projects. With the influence of media, the new Conceptual artworks have also
attempted to touch upon ideas like postmodernism, feminism, etc. In the recent works
of Mustafa Zaman and Ronni Ahmmed, postmodern approaches can be noticed.
Installation works by Tayeba Begum Lipi and Dilara Begum Jolly are frequently
inspired by feminism. Abdul Halim Chanchal, Abdus Salam and others have evidently
mocked market-oriented art and expressed irony about the hard realities of society in

CONCEPTUAL ART AND NEW TRENDS 265


their installation works. Although Shilpakala
Academy, a public institution of art and culture,
does not discourage the new installation and
performance artworks in their major exhibitions
such as the National Art Exhibition and Young
Artists’ National Art Exhibition, etc., the
Academy has a predilection for the conventional
arts. Institute of Fine Art, Dhaka provided
institutional patronage for the new trends in its
Annual Exhibition of the year 2000, where most
of the installations created by the students were
based on media and development issues such as
political injustice, environmental pollution,
arsenic pollution, etc. Though the exhibition was
an encouragement for the new trends, it had no
effect on the Institute’s regular curriculum.
Apart form the patronage by the institutions engaged in art education and promotion, fig. 6.15 Tayeba Begum
a few other initiatives can be noticed. One such notable organization is Britto Art Lipi, Toys are Watching
Trust. Though many of the contemporary artists have created works in the new trend, Toys-2, oil painting,
Mahbubur Rahman and Tayeba Begum Lipi can be considered comparatively regular burkha, wooden shoe
among them (figs. 6.9, 6.15). Both of them became interested in unconventional format, chair; polyester
creation since 1994. They started creating different installation and performance resin, Alliance
works for/ or alongside various national and international exhibitions, on their own or Francaise, Dhaka, 2002
in collaboration with young art students. From 1997 to 1999, these two artists
regularly worked on different solo or joint installation and performance art projects at
home and abroad. But the year 2000 was a turning point for them. In this year, they
participated in a number of residencies and workshops having been invited by
different institutes in Germany and Finland. Jay Koh, an artist of Asian origin, had an
instrumental role in this. Apart from gaining more experience in different non-
traditional arts like installation and performance, Lipi and Mahbub had direct
experience of contemporary European arts in these tours.
In 2001, Pooja Sood, coordinator of an Indian artists’ group called Khoj, came to
Bangladesh. Invited by Khoj, four Bangladeshi artists, Abul Mansur, Shishir
Bhattacharjee, Tayeba Begum Lipi and Mahbubur Rahman participated in their
seminars and workshops in India. Khoj is essentially an all-Indian organization
established and run by artists to encourage artworks of the new trend. Triangle Art
Trust an England-based art coordination organization inspired the creation of Khoj
International. Eminent sculptor Anthony Caro and art collector Robert Loder
organized the first workshop of Triangle Art Trust at Munroe in New York in 1982.
Later, Triangle started taking initiatives to promote new trend art outside the
developed world – in Africa and Asia. It is because of Triangle’s initiatives that groups
of artists in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan began to form independent organizations in

266 ART AND CRAFTS


their respective countries under the same network. Khoj International was a
consequence of these activities. The activities of Khoj International were explained in
the following excerpt found in the booklet published on the occasion of its
international workshop held in Modinagar, India in 1997. ‘All these have been guided
by the Triangle Art Trust based in London, whose mission is to expand the workshop
network, Khoj in India now is linked to this active international workshop chain which
is a kind of movement with a primary network in Africa. Its direction is towards an
empowerment of third world artists and their multicultural bonding outside a white
bias, for an exchange and flow of information along other lines.’ 7
As a consequence of the inspiration gathered from attending the Khoj workshops in
India and exchanging views with the founder of Triangle Art Trust, Robert Loder,
Britto Art Trust was formed in 2003. Chaired by Artist Shishir Bhattacharjee and
coordinated by Tayeba Begum Lipi, Mahbubur Rahman, Salahuddin Khan Srabon,
Imran Hossain and Kabir Ahmed Masum Chisty, Britto initiated various activities
within and outside the country. Among these were organizing of workshops and
residencies that encouraged works on installation, performance, video projections and
such other new trends. Britto continued their activities in collaboration with many
national and international organizations, In addition to the ones in the Triangle
network. Britto organized a fortnight-long workshop from 25 January to 7 February in
2003. This workshop was held in Tepantar Film City in Bhaluka, some 60 kilometres
away from Dhaka. Artists, including nine from other Asian and European countries,
participated in this exhibition. It was a major event for new trend arts in the local
context. Other local artists, apart from the organizers of Britto, who participated in this
workshop were Niloofar Chaman, Dhali Al Mamoon, Lala Rukh Selim and Nisar
Hossain. Almost all these artists, including Britto President Shishir Bhattacharjee,
have incorporated social and political sensitivity as an essential element in their works
since the 80s. Keeping this element as a focus of their works, these artists adopted the
new trend media in the 90s for presentation of their artworks.
After this workshop organized by Britto, Nisar Hossain and Aziz Sharafi, an expatriate
artist residing in the USA, organized another workshop in 2004 jointly with Dhaka’s
French Cultural Center (Alliance Française), a private exhibition gallery called
Chitrak and an adjacent under-construction building. Along with the active artists of
the new trend, experienced and young artists, sculptors, architects, actors and such
other creative and perceptive professionals from different fields participated in this
workshop. Since the workshop aimed to practice alternative trends of arts, the
participants attempted to create works in the light of the contemporary local and
international trends. In this workshop, the participants emphasised on the analysis,
localization and originality of the arts of the new trends.
Conceptual Art and New Trends and Related Local History:
Although the practice of Conceptual Art and new trends started in the 1990s in
Bangladesh, it is still in a primary phase. Bangladesh lags far behind from the state of
maturity that this trend has reached in the west, having started in the 70s. Though

CONCEPTUAL ART AND NEW TRENDS 267


many of the contemporary practitioners of these arts consider them to be a completely
new trend originating in the west, Bangladesh has its own comparable history of such
arts, like other regions of the world. Before investigating the local comparable history,
it is worth mentioning the observation of Bonita Ili on conceptual art and new trends,
more specifically installation works. Bonita Ili, an Australian sculptor and head of
department of sculpture, performance and installation studies of New South Wales
University, said, “Installation is often referred to as a new medium of art, as if it has
sprung from nothing and it does not have any history. During the period of political
unrest in Paris in 1986, in his writing titled The Death of the Author, Ronald Barth
challenged the popular belief that the ‘genius’ comes up with original ideas un-aided
by other pre-existing notions. Barth’s reflection can be used in investigating the
history of installation art.
Firstly, the history of the main element of expression in installation art – imbuing the
concept of space related problems and possibilities - is as old as the history of
architecture, sculpture, music or dance. Secondly, installation lies in the intersection
between architecture and sculpture, sound and instability. and thus its deep relationship
can be found with such traditional places where a mingling of cultural activities in
various media has been taking place.” Saying this, Ili ventured to define the position
8
of installation in the history of art and identified some places and cultural activities that
could be termed as the predecessors of this particular stream of art. She identified the
shifting of importance from the figure or the object to the base as the principal feature
of the modern artistic efforts. At the same time, she identified the western allusive
presentations related with colonial space and the acquaintance with local narrative
elements as the catalyst of the conceptual principle as its main character. According to
her, ‘Increasing awareness about the conceptual aspect of the possibilities of space has
completely changed the grammar of western art.’ [Trans.]
9
She went back to the era before the twentieth century and described how the character
of traditional installation, as cultural activities, is embodied in ancient architectures fig. 6.16 Chaitra
such as the temple of Ise in Japan and the Bithila temple of Hampi in India. The volume Samkranti festival,
of space, architecture, sound, dance and ceremonies flow to the viewers through direct Magan dance, Old
experience, and Ili termed this process as the predecessor of contemporary installation Dhaka, 2002
art. British colonial regime brought an
end to the local mainstream art and
replaced it with western modern art.
But along with the growing interest in
national and social emancipation,
interest in local traditions also
developed within the mainstream arts.
Practice of western art trends and active
participation in the national and social
movements were parallel
characteristics of the local artists. From

268 ART AND CRAFTS


1952 to 1971, the local traditional
stream of art has been effectively used
in many ways in the movements for
language, autonomy, liberation, culture
and democracy. Following the language
movement in 1952, a memorial was
constructed to commemorate the
martyrs. Within a short period,
memorials of a similar structure were
built throughout the country. Elaborate
street painting (alpana) around the
memorials and the morning processions
of numerous people towards these
structures on the twenty-first February
of every year can be considered an
installation and performance. In the
post-colonial social practices, this can
fig. 6.17 Muharram, be considered as a precursor of Conceptual Art and new trends - considering the
Tajia procession, Old importance of space, architecture and ceremonial activities. The year 1952, and later,
Dhaka, 2003 the twenty-first February, the Language Martyrs Day, added a new dimension to the
national life of Bangladesh. Commemorating the Martyrs Day, Quamrul Hassan
created the Aksharbriksha (alphabet tree). In the local mainstream art, the
Aksharbriksha (fig. 8.11) can be considered as a primary example of installation
created without any foreign inspiration.
As mentioned earlier, Bangladesh is a marginal post-colonial nation in South Asia.
Almost two hundred years of colonial rule (1757-1947) disrupted the continuity of
local mainstream art, as it did in the other areas. During and after the colonial era,
sustaining the continuity of the local culture with its independence and uniqueness
became somewhat impossible. In the post-colonial era, the colonial residue was still
active in the artistic and cultural outlook of this region. Thus, the habitual looking
towards the west continued, more or less, to be present in the successive arts. In most
cases, visual imitation became a standard feature, rather than independent acceptance
or rejection of concepts. The profusion of abstract art in the 50s and 60s can be cited
as examples of this phenomenon. The experiencing of the new trends in art in the 80s
and the consequent practices in the 90s is still a movement under process. It has the
potential to develop its own unique characteristics; but at the same time, there is an
equal possibility of its becoming a post-colonial practice of imitative and unoriginal
nature. Hamdi el Attar, a professor of Egyptian origin of the University of Kassel in
Germany has been organizing Innenseite, as an alternative non-European exhibition
alongside Dokumenta. His opinion about the western perspective on the recent
developments in Conceptual Art is, ‘The Europeans and Americans are moving in

CONCEPTUAL ART AND NEW TRENDS 269


their own context and they influence the whole world and for them it means that this
context is international, it is the only context for the world.’ 10
Conceding to this linear dominant outlook of western art, he is hopeful about the
forms of the installation and performance arts of the Conceptual new trend. He thinks,
‘Installation has a tradition in the whole world. You have it in your ceremonial
activities. You have it in your feasts; you have it when you have a wedding or a
birthday. Everybody is a member in doing something there.’ 11
Thus it is important to have the awareness and exploration of local traditions related
to this newer trend of art. In this regard, interesting elements and materials can be
found in different social ceremonies and rituals that still exist, in this era of
globalization, among the rural and marginal urban dwellers, beyond the mainstream of
the country. Different elements of installation and performance are present in rural life
since time immemorial, and can be found on the occasions of fairs, weddings, year-
ending festivals, religious ceremonies, boat races, etc. In the urban life, old Dhaka has
its parallel cultural traditions – the Tajia procession of Muharram (fig. 6.17), worship
of Shiva-Parvati at the end of the month of Chaitra and Magan festival (fig. 6.16),
festivals marking the end of the month of Poush, Sakrain (Kite-flying festival), Eid
procession, etc. There have been such festivals and various installation and
performance-based presentations in daily social life from times long past.


Translated by Nusrat Jahan, Program Manager, Traidcraft Exchange, Bangladesh Country Office



Notes and References
1. Koichi Yasunaga, ‘Japan Introduction’, 2 Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh 1983, Dhaka 1983.
2. Loc.cit.
3. Syed Manzoorul Islam, 2 Man Installation Show, Abhijit & Bahar, catalogue published for show,
(Dhaka 1997).
4. Mahbubur Rahman, City Crisis, catalogue published for show, (Dhaka 1997).
5. Abul Mansur, ‘Recent Works, From Myth to Metaphor’, Recent Works: Dhali Al Mamoon,
(Chittagong 2004).
6. Mahmudul Hossain, “Nisar Hossain’s Art Exposition”, Art, a quarterly Journal, Vol.8:1, (Dhaka
1997), 30.
7. Pooja Sood, ‘Khoj: The Search Within’, in Pooja Sood (ed.), Khoj 1997, (India 1998).
8. Bonita Ili “Sthapona Shilper Prachin Itihas”, Drishyaroop, Annual Issue -1411-1412 (Bengali year),
(Dhaka 2006), 299.
9. Ibid.
10. Hamdi el Attar, “Interview of Hamdi el Attar”, Art, a quarterly Journal, Dhaka.
11. Ibid 15-16.

270 ART AND CRAFTS






7




WOMEN ARTISTS

Lala Rukh Selim

We have to adjust our perspective to a certain extent, to evaluate the art of women
artists of any country. This is because in the course of history, with the establishment
of patriarchy and a society ruled by men, the language and expression of art by women
has flowed in a particular direction which is quite distinct from that of men. This
important aspect is always to be kept in mind when viewing and judging the art of
women. Women occupy a special place in society which is segregated from the public,
in the interior of the household. Her labor is used for the needs of patriarchy and she
is creating art but it is far from the public eye and in very ephemeral materials. She
works in the family workshop, unknown to the public. Women are forbidden entrance
fig. 7.1 Moulds for where there exists communication with the external world. That is why we do not see
sweetmeats, after the works of women on the walls of temples, in brick, stone or wood. The entrance of
Amiyakumar women in numbers into the world of high art in Bengal is quite recent. From the very
Bandapadhaya, beginning of history, we find women working in a small space, giving expression to
Bangalakshmir Jhanpi, her aesthetics in very humble material which is created for the well-being and
(Calcutta 1386 Bengali satisfaction of loved ones and society. Art is always created from exchanges between
year) humans and society. The language of art of all the peoples of a society is not the same;
aesthetic satisfaction and needs are not the same. That is why folk art is always in the
process of evolving alongside mainstream or classical art and taking a variety of
forms. Robert Skelton says, it is universally accepted that the common people of
Bengal use the cheapest and most easily available materials for their art. Most
products are created for short-term use in seasonal and household rites and as toys for
children. He has made this statement in the context of folk art. Yet this is even more
1
meaningful in the case of women artists because they not only use cheap and readily
available material, the material they use is temporary, created to be consumed or
destroyed. Thus the art they create from the kitchen, such as – pitha (cakes), sandesh,
mithai (sweetmeats) etc. are created to be consumed (fig. 7.1). The huge difference
between these and the stone, wood, clay sculpture, manuscript and bookcover
illustrations of Bengal created under the patronage of the royal treasury or religious
establishment lies in the difference of their objective and expression. Women artists
create art for household rituals and for the total welfare of society. There is no direct
politics involved in this as we see in royal art. It is generally observed that women

WOMEN ARTISTS 271


create art to bring beauty to daily life, to bring happiness to the family and to harness
the various forces of nature. Her art has no place for spiritual practice or expression of
power. This is because, firstly, in patriarchal society the welfare and happiness of a
woman’s husband and family is more important than the practice of her own
spirituality. Secondly, when Aryanization transformed ancient matriarchal society, the
inferior role of women in society was established, and is still to be observed in present
society. That the sphere of the Bengali woman was considerably smaller than other
tribal women is reflected in ancient art and literature. Therefore, there is no
importance of woman’s expression of power as she has no power in the real world.
Woman’s art reflects the nature and family that surrounds her, the forces of nature she
knows and upon which depends the living of the people of rural Bengal and keeping
these forces pacified. The folk art of Bengal is primarily inspired by the transformation
of nature because with it is connected the life of the agrarian Bengali.
Understanding of brata which is the main directing force of the folk art of Bengal and
which is itself governed by women, is essential to understanding the woman artist and
art. Generally, brata is the practice of a special ritual or ceremony in a special worship
to a divinity to realize a desire or the social ceremony or prescription practiced by a
group for worldly good. Niharranjan Roy has observed, ‘The history of the brata ritual
2
is exceedingly complex and ancient, however, there is perhaps no doubt about the fact
that such religious rituals were well in circulation from the age of the pre-Vedic
indigenous tribes.’ [Trans.] Originally brata was not recognized by Brahmanic or
3
Buddhist religions. However, with the increasing number of pre-Aryan and non-Aryan
men and women gaining acceptance into the limits of Aryan-Brahmanic society made
it possible for brata to gain recognition. A priest is needed to perform the bratas that fig. 7.2 Lakshmibrater
gained recognition. Those bratas that were not recognized do not need a priest for their alpana
performance, householder women themselves perform the rites. 4
The ceremonies of brata are multi-faceted, combining dancing,
singing, painting and building images, rhymes and gestures of the
hand. The belief that works behind the brata is that the wish or
desire to be fulfilled has to be made visible and existent through the
medium of a mandala and energy created through rhymes and
gestures. Stella Kramrisch states, ‘The Vrata mandalas, considered
5
as a kind of ‘writing,’ are an extreme type of rural art.’ this brata
6
mandala is alpana. These represent a particular story through
symbols. Sudhansu Kumar Ray says, ‘An object is drawn to
symbolize a desired result, in the conviction that in this way the
actual article will be brought about. This is where an art has to
serve the magic.’ Thus, special methods and symbols must be used
7
in alpana. Drawing a particular symbol will bring about the
fulfillment of a particular wish or desire. The lotus and decorated
circles are primitive symbols of male and female sexual organs.
After the hunting gathering age came agrarian society and with that
the form of alpana also changed. We see many motifs in the brata

272 ART AND CRAFTS


alpana, for example – ear of paddy,
jewelry, flower, lotus, owl, plough,
ladder, the pot of vermillion, vines and
leaves, Lakshmi’s footprint and basket,
palanquin, bird, elephant, horse, dhenki
or paddy husking pedal, comb, sun, the
paan or betel leaf, cowry shell, banana
plant, fish, hand print, footprint etc.
These motifs have a special
significance. For example, for Lakshmi
brata Lakshmi’s footprints are drawn 8
(fig. 7.2). For the Yamapukur brata
crocodiles, turtles, fish etc. made of
clay are used. Many other such forms
are made in clay. Digging a small pond
in the ground is also quite common.
Furthermore, materials of the brata
symbolize some aspects of human life,
for example – banana, green coconut and paddy are symbols of fertility. The cowry
shell is symbol of wealth. The betel leaf is the symbol of the female sexual organ. The
fig. 7.3 (top) water filled ghata or water container and the green coconut are symbols of the pregnant
Maghmandal brata, woman and growing mango leaves symbols of blooming life. Thus, we can say that
9
Mitaman, Kishoreganj, the art of brata is a kind of installation art, which is to the person initiated in the culture
photograph Mohammad of brata, an easily understandable ritual. Again, a person completely ignorant of the
Sayeedur, after Sila subject of brata will be filled with wonder by the installation, performance, the
Basak, Banglar richness of its design elements, the beauty and balanced use of the materials and total
Brataparban, (Calcutta aesthetic expression which evinces the age old cumulative sense of aesthetics of
1998)
Bengali society (fig.7.3).
fig. 7.4 (bottom) Shola The women of Bengal have bourne the most ancient art form through brata to the
topar (headgear), present. Moreover, the wife or daughter of the Bengali kumar or potter creates all
courtesy Bangladesh products which do not involve the use of the wheel. They also paint all the products
National Crafts Council that are painted in the potter’s family workshop, i.e., the ghata, sara or pot cover,
dolls etc. In the weavers household the womenfolk do almost all else except work on
the loom. However, women have never been part of the artisan tradition of the
country. They have never been part of a guild. There were never any female
swarnakar (goldsmith), sutradhar (carpenter), takshak (carver). The economic
structure of producer and consumer relationship that is current in the country has
always been male-centristic. Yet the first painter that finds mention in Sanskrit
10
literature is Chitralekha, who had run of the inner chambers of the Bana king of
Prajnajatishpur. The painting skills of the companions of Radha find repeated
mention in Vaishnava literature. 11
The touch of the Bengali woman’s dexterous hands is to be found in all of Bengal’s
folk arts. About the culinary arts, Dineshchandra Sen says that the artistic skills

WOMEN ARTISTS 273


fig. 7.5 (topleft) Sika
(jutehanger), after Folk Art
Album Selections from
Bangla Ghar the Folk Art
Museum of Tofael Ahmed,
(Dhaka 2004)
fig. 7.6 (top right) Pati
(woven mat), after Naksha
a Collection of Designs of
Bangladesh, Sayyada R.
Ghuznavi, (Dhaka 1981)





woman shows in making sandesh (a sweetmeat) is such that they achieve the beauty
of flowers and fruits. There are hundreds of moulds made of clay by Bengali women,
their decoration are a pleasure to behold. The dexterity they show with the coconut
kernel cannot be appreciated by any one who has not seen the coconut sweets made
by the women of East Bengal. 12
Pidi (low stool) painting, nakshi kantha, the sara and kula (winnowing fan) for the
welcoming basket are also women’s work besides alpana. The shola (pith) work is
done by both the males and females of the malakar families (fig.7.4). The jute sikas
(hangers) to be seen in villages bear ample evidence of women’s aesthetics (fig.7.5).
Anandalohori, fuljhuri, adarfana, sagar fana, kelikadamba etc. many sikas were in
use. Patas are painted by both men and women of patua families. The amazing
sheetal pati (woven mat of thin slats of plant fiber) is woven by paitas (fig.7.6). The
paita women got twenty taka dowry for each design she knew when she got married.
The Betia women of Dhaka created most beautiful baskets and containers for paan
(betel leaf) and decorated them by twisting the cane to make delicate flowers and
coloring them. The amsatta (mango paste) moulds carved in stone by women are
13
truly worth seeing (fig.7.7).
Though there are many different materials used in the diverse fields that women artists
of Bengal work in, there is a kind of similarity to be found in the designs. Nakshi
kantha (fig. 7.9), nakshi pitha, pati, ghata, hari etc. are wares that are decorated and
in their motifs we notice the reflection of the alpana designs. The alpana designs
painted with rice paste on the ground seem to be painted also in the pitha made of rice
powder with the thorn of the date palm, jute stick or thin slat of bamboo. This pitha is
mainly made in Mymensingh, Comilla, Sylhet, Dhaka and Chittagong (fig.7.8). On
14
analysis it is to be realized that the Bengali woman creates her varied world of art with
the world she knows and the symbols she learns. The poet Jasimuddin saw the
woman’s art world in a wider form, ‘The painting that we see in the lines of the alpana

274 ART AND CRAFTS


on the ground, we observe similar pictures in stone slabs, in the decorated wooden
piece of the carpenter, in the tattoo on bodies, jewelry, in colorful kanthas and the fine
cane knots of the house. Though the methods of creating pictures are different in
different places there is a similarity in their tradition.’ [Trans.]
15
Woman’s entrance into the world of mainstream art is largely against social
conditions. The sort of art that women are prepared to create is completely different
from high or mainstream art. This is due to the indisputable fact that women and men
are different. They are different even though they belong to the same society, family
and environment because in the patriarchal society where they grow up, there is great
discrimination between them from the very beginning. This discrimination
channelizes the aesthetic consciousness and view of life in different directions. Heide-
Goetner Abendroth has written, ‘As matriarchal art derives from the structure of
matriarchal mythology which is a completely different value system and not merely a
reversed or contradictory one from that of patriarchy, it too shares this different system
of values. The erotic is the dominant force and not work, discipline, renunciation. The
continuation of life as a cycle of rebirth is its primary principle, and not war or heroic
death for abstract, inhuman ideals.’ Thus woman’s primary aesthetic consciousness
16
is used to hold patriarchal society together. This positive female force nurtures
patriarchy with love because woman’s consciousness and therefore her art is never
self-centered. Woman always works at a level which is generally understandable and
easily accessible. Her art and life is never separated. The separation of art and life in
patriarchal society has divided mainstream or high art into many different branches.
In fact, woman’s matriarchal values are cooperative and universal at the core of which
is the desire to awaken fertile energy. This value system works as an undercurrent in
patriarchal society in the conscious and sub-conscious states of woman. This
matriarchal value system has been recast by patriarchy for its own purpose. Thus,
when woman enters the world of art created by the male, she enters it going against
her training and instincts. The enormous and extraordinary maternal energy of woman
becomes a separated, individual entity when a woman enters the unknown world of
male created aesthetics; she enters the competition on unequal terms.
Often we find women who show great promise in their art education but cannot later
fig. 7.7 (top) Mould for keep pace in the actual world of mainstream art. This world of art seems to be very
mango pulp, after Naksha difficult to harmonize with social pressure, family life and child rearing. This world
a Collection of Designs of
Bangladesh, Sayyada R. of pure art separated from the flow of life seems to be at odds for a woman to manage
Ghuznavi, (Dhaka 1981) while leading a normal family life. That is why we often observe women leaving art
divorced from life and society and leaning towards applied art. Perhaps because the
fig.7.8 (bottom) Nakshi self-centeredness, self-consciousness and sense of self-esteem of women do not
pitha (rice cakes), after An develop along the same lines as males this situation is created. Women are forever
Anthology on Crafts of busy trying to satisfy others. She finds fulfillment by being secondary herself and
Bangladesh, Bangladesh,
Bangladesh National Crafts bringing happiness, peace and taking care of the family. It is impossible to find a
Council, (Dhaka1987) place in the world of art with this attitude. Thus, if we study the lives of women who

WOMEN ARTISTS 275


do find a place in the world of art we find a sudden break of a few
years in their professional life. Perhaps they are busy rearing
children as mothers or trying to adjust to a new role in a new family
or keeping herself in the background to give preference to her
husband’s profession.
The first time we hear of a large number of women participating in
an art exhibition is in 1879 in the Fine Art Exhibition held in
Kolkata. Twenty five women participated in this show and most of
them were Bengali women. In 1939 women were provided the
17
opportunity to enroll as students in the Calcutta Government Art
School and they took it with pleasure. Aparna Ray was a student of
the first batch of women and went on to become a teacher at the
same school. Yet we meet with women prior to the professional
18
entrance of women in the field of art who had worked with the
materials and technique of professional artists and also expressed
their individual qualities in their work. Needless to say not be said
that they practiced art alongside their family activities. Perhaps that
is why there is distinctiveness in their work. Moreover, the women’s
art that was practiced so far was created for a different world and
had different objectives. Thus, the art of these women artists shows
the desire to find their own space within these contradictions. It must be remembered fig. 7.9 (bottom left)
that the entrance into this new field was for women almost like an act of trespassing Nakshi kantha, after
because it created an opportunity to encounter the public world outside the premises Abaran, Bangladesh
of the household. National Crafts Council,
The arrival of the British created a new self-realization and analytical vision that (Dhaka 2003)
changed the background of Bengali life. Perhaps a touch of this new wave inspired
women with new enthusiasm to take up the media and forms in which men had
expressed their creativity. It must, however, be mentioned here that this is the juncture
in time, that is the nineteenth century, when the visual art of Bengal became separated
from the previous hereditary family workshops and people from the upper classes
began to enter the arena of the arts. A new personality, the artist, appeared as a result
of the exhibitions, art organizations, art educational institutions and the writings on art
organized by the British. They were a different brand of people from the lower caste
chitrakar (painter), bhaskar (sculptor), kumar (potter), malakar (garland maker). They
were different from the common person, talented, educated and unique. They were
enlightened creators. It is as though women also rode this wave to enter the world of
mainstream art with the children of other well-born families. Yet men entered it
aspiring to be professional, major, famous and rich artists. Women entered it suddenly
as they saw the possibility of creating art in permanent media instead of sewing,
weaving, cooking or painting alpana. It was not in the hopes of professionalism,
wealth and fame because those doors were still closed to women. On the contrary, it

276 ART AND CRAFTS


was to express their own hopes and philosophy of life that women entered the newly
opened world of art. Women are seen working in the recognized mainstream media
coming out of the area of what is termed the ‘minor arts’ in the history of western art.
The words of Germaine Greer are very significant in this respect. In her discussion of
women painters she says, ‘Even if it is not great female art, women’s art reveals much
that is of interest and concern both to the feminist and to the student of art, whether it
shows the impoverishment of the oppressed personality, the sterile archetypes of self-
censorship, the grimace of narcissistic introversion or the occasional flicker of
rebellion in its latent content, or all of these. What it does not and cannot show is the
decisive evidence of female creative power, for by far the greater proportion of that
was never expressed in painting, but in the so-called minor arts.’ What is also
19
observed in women artists is the fact that they seem to devote themselves more to
artworks related to society and life rather than expressing themselves as individuals.
It is as if their social values direct them to think that art has to address life, it has to be
liberated from being products for the museum or the market. It is almost like their
devotion to the rites of brata of the most ancient matriarchal society where forces are
controlled for the good of society and the family. Woman has been more active in the
development of human society, not the self.
We know the names of a few women artists. Yet in most cases we hardly see works of
art to go with the artists. The reason is that women have created art as a hobby along
with her other family responsibilities. They were in most cases not solely devoted to
art. Thus, the number of work they produced was comparatively much less than that
of males. It is therefore difficult to form a clear view of their work. We may hear about
their work but there is very little scope of viewing their work. That is why the work
of women artists is mostly unknown, unrecognized, unanalyzed and unevaluated.
When woman proves her extraordinary qualities, her personality overwhelms her
work and becomes more important. Her work becomes only a facet of her personality.
All of this has to be considered when the works of women artists are evaluated, or else
the work of half the population of Bengal, and the world will be neglected. It is to be
noted that most women artists come from educated upper or middle class families. A
short discussion of some Bengali women artists prior to the partition follows.
Girindramohini Dasi (1858-1924) was born in Kolkata. Her father was Haranchandra
Mitra. She wrote poetry and painted. She was accomplished in painting divinities and
landscapes. Lady Minto, wife of the Viceroy saw one of her paintings and sent it to
Australia to a painting exhibition. Her paintings were reproduced in her own books of
poetry and in Bharati, Manashi and Marmabani journals. 20
Sucharu Devi (1874-1959) was the Maharani of Mayurbhanj. She was the third
daughter of Keshabchandra Sen and Jagonmohini Devi. She learnt oil painting from a
European woman teacher called Short. After her marriage to Maharaja Sriramchandra
Bhanj Deo she became more enthusiastic about art and gained experience about
western art in Europe. She was adept at painting landscapes in oil. In a collection of

WOMEN ARTISTS 277


paintings called Bhakti-Argha she fig. 7.10 Painting by
illustrated her father’s childhood. She Sunayani Devi
expressed the grief of the death of her
husband and son and the pain of her
own lonely life in her paintings. 21
Sunayani Devi (1875-1862) was born
at the Tagore residence in Jorasanko.
She was the sister of Gaganendranath,
Samarendranath and Abanindranath.
Her husband Rajanimohan
Chattapadhyaya was an attorney. She
had no teacher for her art. She was
encouraged by her elder siblings to
begin her journey in the world of art,
but she became more productive after
reaching the age of thirty. After her
marriage she practiced her art
alongside taking care of and directing her children, husband and the joint family. In
her paintings in water color myths of gods and goddesses, Krishna, Ramayana and
Mahabharata were the subject. The image of the Bengali household and portraits of
women was the subject of her work. Kamal Sarkar has said that her paintings are
executed in the original local style and based on the pata painting. The Indian Society
22
of Oriental Art organized a number of exhibitions of her paintings in Europe but she
had no shows at home during her lifetime. The inspiration of folk art that we observe
in her painting (fig. 7.10) was later more fully explored by Jamini Roy. It was perhaps
because she had no desire to establish herself as a great artist that experimentation and
originality were boldly present in her work. She was a prolific worker using thrown
away cardboard to covers of exercise books. This shows her easy and spontaneous
attitude towards her work. Kishore Chatterjee comments, ‘. . . Sunayani Devi painted
straight from her heart and her matriarchal duties could not prevent her from creating
a world of simple and innocent pleasures, an art whose beauty lies in its total lack of
pretentiousness, in its quiet originality.’ 23
Meherbanu Khanam (1885-1925) was born in the Nawab family of Dhaka. Her father
was Nawab Sir Khwaja Ahsanullah and her mother Kamrunnessa Khanam.
Meherbanu sent in one of her paintings for printing in the journal Moslem Bharat
published from Kolkata. It is learnt that the poet Kazi Nazrul Islam composed his
poem Kheyaparer Tarani upon seeing this painting. The age and family into which
24
Meherbanu was born and grew up, her conservative Muslim background made her
painting most unexpected (fig. 7.11). Perhaps she did not depict living beings in her
paintings due to religious reasons. She was used to viewing the painting collection of
25
the nawab family. Her father was a very cultured person which is perhaps why her

278 ART AND CRAFTS


inclination for art developed. No other paintings are traceable except for the two
published in the Moslem Bharat. Both the paintings are landscapes. Syed Emdad Ali
writes that Meherbanu Khanam took painting lessons for six months. Meherbanu
26
would paint amidst the endless activities of the household.
Shukhalata Rao (1886-1969) was the eldest daughter of Upendrakishore Ray and
Bidhumukhi Devi. She got her training in painting from her father and painted scenes
and characters from the Puranas, Ramayana and Mahabharata. Her paintings were
published in Prabasi, Modern Review, Suprabhat, Sandesh, Chatterjee’s Picture
Album and other journals. 27
Hasina Khanam (1892-?) has been mentioned as the first Muslim woman artist in the
Charitabhidhan published by Bangla Academy. Some watercolors and sketches done
by her were published in Sawgat, Basumati etc. journals. Her place of birth and death
and the date of her expiry is unknown. 28
Protima Devi (1893-1969) was born in the home of her maternal uncles. Her father
was Sheshendrabhushan Chattapadhyay and mother Binoyini Devi. Her maternal
grandfather was Gunendranath Tagore. Gaganendranath, Samarendranath and
Abanindranath were her maternal uncles and Sunayani Devi was her aunt. She was
married to Rabindranath’s son Rathindranath and she later learnt painting at ‘Bichitra’
established by Rabindranath. She went on to train under Nandalal Bose. She was
dearly loved by the poet Rabindranath and traveled to many countries with him. As a
result, the concept she got about the international world of art played a particularly
fig. 7.11 Meher Banu significant role in her later life as an artist. She learnt fresco painting, ceramics and
Khanam seen painting batik in Paris. She had a show in London in 1935. However, she is given greater
surrounded by her importance for her contribution to Santiniketan than her work as an artist. She
children, Dilkhusha in designed stages for plays and costumes in her original style. She was particularly
the first decade of the proficient in producing characters for Rabindranath’s plays. She developed her artistic
20th century, after
Alokchitrey Sekaler personality through dance and music. Though her early paintings evidence Japanese
Dhaka, Bangladesh influence, later she painted in the style of the Bengal School. She took the illustrative
National Museum, mode of the Bengal School to its natural culmination (fig. 7.13). She continued her
(Dhaka 2003) individual experiments in applied art. According to Kishore Chatterjee she suppressed
her creativity as an illustrator due to her
devotion to Santiniketan. 29
Shanta Devi (1893-1984) was born in
Kolkata. Her father was Ramananda
Chatterjee editor of the journals Prabasi,
Modern Review and Bishal Bharat and her
mother was Monorama Devi. She began to
write and paint from her childhood due to
the family environment. She learnt
painting under Abanindranath and

WOMEN ARTISTS 279


Nandalal Bose. Later on in Santiniketan she studied painting
supervised by Nandalal. There she also studied the technique of
oil painting under Andre Karpelles. Shanta Devi painted in the
Indian style but the subject she selected reflected her originality
(fig. 7.12). She played the esraj, wrote and stitched kantha
(quilted embroidery). Her paintings were exhibited and won
awards in Kolkata, Madras and Yangon. She was nearly ninety
years old when her paintings and other art pieces were exhibited
at the Birla Academy. 30
Shukumari Devi’s (?-1938) father was the zamindar of Borodia of
Chanpur-Comilla, Ramkumar Majumdar and her mother was
Anandamoyi Devi. Shukumari was widowed at the age of fourteen
and three years later she went to Santiniketan at the
encouragement of Kalimohan Ghose of Sriniketan. Because of her
skill in needlework and alpana Rabindranath directed Nandalal to
employ Shukumari as the teacher of needle art in Kala Bhavana.
Additionally, she also learnt to paint from Nandalal. Episodes from
the Puranas, gods and goddesses were the prime subject of her
paintings. Kamal Sarkar notes that her paintings executed in bright
colors and bold lines are slightly decorative. She was also highly
skilled in alpana and other crafts. 31
Prakriti Chattapadhyay (1895-1934) was the daughter of the artist Jaladhichandra fig. 7.12 (top) Shanta
Mukhapadhyay who was the grandson of Jatindramohan Tagore. She painted scenes Devi, Child with a Doll
from Krishnalila, Bhuddha’s life and the poetry and stories of Rabindranath Tagore in
watercolors. She was skilled in gesso painting, painting on silk, lacquer work and
enameling. Her embroidery and alpana were featured in publications. 32
Indurani Sinha (1905-?) was born in Kolkata. Her father was Akshay Kumar Mitra and
mother Rajlakshmi Devi. She was married to the artist Satishchandra Sinha in 1920 and
nearly sixteen years after that she began to practice art supervised by her husband. She
worked in oils, watercolor and pastels. She was adept in painting landscapes, village
people, and nude and draped figures. In 1941 she established a school of art for women. 33
Gouri Bhanj (1907-?), daughter of Nandalal Bose and Sudhira Devi learnt the arts
and crafts at the Kala Bhavana of Santiniketan. When Shukumari Devi, the teacher of
the Crafts department was taken ill and had to leave Santiniketan, Gouri Devi took
charge and taught at the department for nearly thirty five years. She was very expert
in alpana, needlework, batik, leatherwork and other crafts. Batik was introduced to
Kala Bhavana during her tenure and her contribution to the medium is considerable.
She played a leading role in the decoration on different occasions during
Rabindranath’s lifetime. 34
Indiradevi Raychowdhury (1910-1950) was the daughter of Srishachandra
Bhattacharya and Binodini Devi of the village Gopalpur of Tangail. She was

280 ART AND CRAFTS


married to the son of the zamindar of Gouripur, the musician
Birendrakishore Raychowdhury. She learnt painting from
Kshitindranath Majumdar after her marriage. She also learnt
portrait painting from Atul Bose. Her paintings done in oil
and watercolors were exhibited in many shows. She received
the best prize among women in the category of painting in
the Indian style at the eleventh yearly exhibition of the
Academy of Fine Arts. 35
Indusudha Ghose’s first lessons in painting were from a
photographer in Mymensingh. She went to Santiniketan in
1926 and practiced the arts and crafts during the
principalship of Nandalal Bose. She was successful in
painting, decoration and needlework. She was the only
female member of the organization ‘Karushangha’ founded
by the artists of Santiniketan. She joined Sriniketan as a
teacher after completing her studies in Kala Bhavana. From
1931-32 she taught art at the Nivedita Girls School of
Kolkata as instructed by Nandalal Bose. She was also
associated with revolutionary activities and was in prison for
five years. In later life she worked with Mahila Shilpa
Shikshalay and Nari Sheba Shangha to develop self-reliance
among impoverished women. 36
fig. 7.13 (bottom) Hashirashi Devi was born in Gobardanga of Twenty Four Parganas. Her father was a
Protima Devi, Lord lawyer from Dinajpur. She was interested in art from her childhood and became
Buddha introduced to Abanindranath. The grief of the death of her only daughter found
expression in many of her paintings. Her paintings were published in journals such as
Bharatbarsha, Masik Basumati, Bichitra, Jayasri, Prabartak. She became well-
37
known for her humorous stories and their caricaturish illustrations.
Jamuna Sen (1912-?), Nandalal’s youngest daughter learnt painting, fresco, modeling
and linocut for six years at Kala Bhavana under the guidance of her father. She was
skilled in alpana, needlework and batik. She was a teacher of the crafts department of
Kala Bhavana. Her paintings were published in various monthly magazines. 38
Rani Chanda (1912-), sister of Mukulchandra Dey, was born in Midnapore. She came
to Kala Bhavana in 1928 and studied painting and had the fortune of being supervised
by Nandalal Bose and Abanindranath Tagore. She worked in the media of watercolor,
tempera, crayon, chalk, woodcut and linocut. She was incarcerated for her
involvement in the ‘Quit India’ movement. 39
Chitranibha Chowdhury was born in Murshidabad in 1913. Her father was Dr.
Bhagabanchandra Bose and mother was Saratkumari Devi. Paternal home was in
Chandpur, Tripura. She was married to Niranjan Chowdhury of Noakhali in 1927.

WOMEN ARTISTS 281


After marriage, inspired by her husband, she
studied painting for almost five years at Kala
Bhavana under the principalship of Nandalal Bose.
In 1935 she completed her studies and joined Kala
Bhavana as teacher to resign after a year. Episodes
and characters from ancient Indian literature were
featured in her paintings. Rural Bengal and the life
of the indigenous people were also included in her
work. Most of her work was rendered in
watercolors and pastels. 40
Kamini Sundari Paul was wife of Shashibhushan
Paul, founder of the Maheshwarpasha School of
Art in 1940. She joined the school as a teacher of
needlework. She won recognition for her
embroidered paintings. She had no institutional training. She was born in
Khalishpur, Khulna in 1883. Her father was called Raichan Das. The subject of her
paintings were portraits of famous personalities and historical incidents like the
Battle of Plassey. 41
After the partition of India in 1947, what is the present Institute of Fine Art under the
University of Dhaka was founded as the ‘Government Institute of Arts’ in 1948. The
first five women admitted to this institution in the 1954-55 session were Tahera
Khanam, Rowshan Ara, Hasina Ali, Jubaida Akter Khatun and Syeda Moyeena Ahsan.
Except Moyeena Ahsan all the others completed their five year course. All these
women came from urban and enlightened families except for Jubaida Akter. It is
known that there was never any opposition from their families for setting off in the
world of art. Tahera Khanam later married the famous artist Qayyum Chowdhury and
continues to paint (fig. 7.15). It must be admitted that these women must have been
very courageous and self-confident to disregard the curious gaze of society and take
up the study of such an unusual subject.
It is also true that later on women who did study at art institutions did not apply their
training to visibly creative activity. Many did not complete their academic studies. It
does not seem easy to combine the social and familial responsibilities of women with
mainstream art practice.
Thus only the women
who have dispensed with fig. 7.14 (top) Novera
social and family life and Ahmed, relief, folk
only as long as they have influence observable
done so have they been
able to contribute to fig. 7.15 (bottom)
Tahera Khanam,
mainstream art. In this Banabithi, watercolor,
respect Novera Ahmed is 1999

282 ART AND CRAFTS


fig. 7.16 (top) Durre an exceptional personality of this
Khanam, title and media country. She returned to the
unknown, 1960 country after finishing her
diploma in sculpture from
fig. 7.17 (bottom) England in 1956. She practiced
Farida Zaman, sculpture which was not only not
Fisherwoman, oil on in circulation; it could also cause
canvas, 1978
religious controversy. Sculpture
came a long way with her
sincerity and dedication. She
researched into the uncommon
material of cement and iron rod.
Moreover, she conducted many
experiments with folk subject and form (fig. 7.14). The first sculpture exhibition, the
first outdoor sculpture and creating the first relief mural on a public edifice in Dhaka all
goes to her credit. She was also involved in creating the national Shaheed Minar,
monument to the martyrs of the Language Movement. She caused these revolutionary
incidents to happen in Dhaka between 1956 and 1960 and possibly left for West
Pakistan due to the lack of patronage. However, the combination of the folk trend with
internationalism and her clear concept of the contemporary western art world gave her
the boldness to step on the threshold of many new doors. Perhaps because she grew up
in a truly international and enlightened environment, her identity and her patriotic ideas
were not burdened by the shackles of inferiority. Moreover, as a woman she did not have
the pressure to achieve social recognition and professional success. This is perhaps why
she could so spontaneously continue in her experiments. She is the first modern sculptor
of Bangladesh. The teachers and administration of the government art institute was still
very wary of introducing sculpture in the curriculum in fear that people would begin to
think that they were encouraging un-Islamic practices in a Muslim country.
The first woman to have a solo painting exhibition in Dhaka was Durre Khanam. She
was better known as Rumi Islam because of her marriage to the artist, Aminul Islam.
Later they were divorced. Her exhibition was held in 1960,
two years after completing her education at the Institute of
Fine Art. This exhibition featured works in the medium of oil
and tempera and the paintings showed a clear bend towards
abstraction (fig. 7.16). The exhibition was highly acclaimed
by Zainul Abedin, A.L. Khatib and Sadeq Khan. Her work
42
showed great promise but she later completely disappeared
from the art world of Bangladesh.
We notice in both the cases of Novera Ahmed and Rumi
Islam that they entered the world of male-centric art even
though they were women. Great talent, firmness and
dedication must have followed them in their footsteps. Yet as

WOMEN ARTISTS 283


they went considerably against social mores to enter this
male controlled realm, they could not last there for very
long. Similarly, the new horizons that they pointed to and
their historical importance were not to be evaluated by
patriarchal society. To be quite truthful, they were almost
completely lost.
We again see women entering the art world forcefully and in
numbers in the seventies. The national consciousness to
build a nation free from Pakistan and the wave of socialism
that was riding the world seemed to imbue the whole nation
with power and enthusiasm. Perhaps this is why women
wrested the right to enter all areas of life. The equality of
man and woman was added to progressive thought. The
progression of woman spoke of changes in the whole of
society. Nazlee Laila Mansur (1952- ), Masuma Khan (1952- ),
Farida Zaman (1953- ), Naima Haque (1953), Shamim Shikdar (1953- ), Sadhana
Islam (1954- ) and others completed their art education from the art institute in the
early seventies. They are still active in the field of art. Many of them went abroad for
higher education. In 1974, the first group of women artists held a joint art exhibition
calling themselves ‘Group of Four.’ Farida Zaman, Naima Haque, Shamim Shikdar
and Sadhana Islam participated in this show. Among them, only Farida Zaman has
43
continued to work uninterruptedly. The other three had occasional breaks but
continued to exhibit considerable success in their own field. Sadhana Islam
contributed to establishing the medium of batik as a creative one. Shamim Shikdar
was a prolific sculptor in the eighties and nineties. Most of them were cast in concrete
or constructed in direct cement. Naima Haque in the meanwhile had devoted her
attention to the children’s picture book.
Farida Zaman is the first female artist to receive the national award of the Bangladesh
Government. She received the national young artists’ award. In 1977, she received the
first prize in painting while she was a student in Baroda and was the first Bangladeshi
artist to receive an award at the Fifth International Triennale in Delhi in 1982. The subject
of Farida Zaman’s painting is largely connected to the rural life of Bengal (fig. 7.17).
Fisherman, fish and fishing net keep on appearing in her work. Yet the hopes and horizons
of the woman’s world enter
her work in a slightly poetic
and rhythmic manner. Farida fig. 7.18 (top) Nurun
Nahar (Papa),
Zaman’s other great Composition, mixed
expression is through her media, 1993
book illustration. Her bright
colors and lyrical lines are fig. 7.19 (bottom)
common to both her Naima Haque, He-2,
expressions. If we look for mixed media

284 ART AND CRAFTS


typically female qualities in her work, we will see the textures she
creates on the surface, her love of details which is reminiscent of the
stitches sued in the nakshi kantha. Her use of color seems to be
inspired by the medium of watercolor.
Naima Haque’s picture books for children and her paintings depict
maternity, the world in the eyes of children, family and nature. Anna
Islam says about her work that her work shows her philosophy, self-
discovery which mainly frames a woman’s eagerness of body and
mind and her desire for identity. Her work shows the use of folk
44
forms and color. Her attention to details, dots, scratches and flowing
lines seem to connect her work to the traditional art of our women
artists. She presents the world as perceived in the eyes of women
(fig. 7.19). The work of Sadhana Islam also depicts village life in a
simplified way (fig. 7.21). Nurun Nahar (Papa) (1954- ) uses a
variety of media and form in her rather design-based work (fig.
7.18).
The seventies gradually saw a larger number of women entering the
world of institutionalized art and that in turn brought changes to
that world. The art works of women presented their own existence
and that depicted the social reality of women. In certain cases, women have made
direct statements against abuse and discrimination against other women. In which case
it must be admitted that they follow an alternative path to the mainstream. They show
a greater desire to examine themselves and exhibit greater diversity in experimenting
with a separate language of art.
Nazlee Laila Mansur has been an unceasingly active artist from the eighties. Her work
shows the narrowness of the woman’s world in a slightly surrealistic manner. Her
work directly represents the social
insecurity and oppression of women
(fig. 7.20). It evinces the tendency to
look into minute details, a clear and
readable presentation of the whole
story and the use of many symbols.
Rowshan Haq Dipa (1953-1999) has
often presented women in her work
fig. 7.20 (top) Nazlee with troubled and unhappy expressions
Laila Mansur, Floating (fig. 7.23). Suffering from cancer in the
Woman, 1999 last two years of her life, she expressed
herself through self-portraits. Her self-
fig. 7.21 (bottom) portraits in pencil show her remarkable
Sadhana Islam, Field of drawing skills. According to Abul
Nakshi Kantha,
tempera, 1993 Mansur, such skill in construction of

WOMEN ARTISTS 285


pictorial naturalism is very rare in these fig. 7.22 (top) Nasreen
times. Still life, plant life, the corner of Begum, Woman with
45
a room, pebbles etc. have made their Cactus, acrylic, 2006
place in Dipa’s work.
Nasreen Begum (1956- ) practices fig. 7.23 (bottom)
painting in the oriental method. She Rowshan Haq Dipa,
uses the wash technique in watercolors Fare Forward, oil on
canvas, 1946
with great skill. The world of women
and women themselves remain
constant as the theme of her work. The
method and media she employs direct
her to look at nature in minute details.
Women and nature, the unequal
position of women in life is presented
in delicate and faultless beauty. Rough
reality is a sugar-coated pill in her
work (fig. 7.22).
Rokeya Sultana (1958- ) showed
increased activity from the nineties.
Her work became distinguished by the depiction of her self-realization and her lived
experience. She represented her daily struggle in the
known surroundings of her city (pl. 3.7). Her images are
similar to child art. Syed Manzoorul Islam specifies, ‘Her
works . . . draw strength from primitive sensibility or from
a child’s unrestricted vision.’ She works in prints and
46
other media. Rhythmic lines and figurative imagery lends
distinction to her work. Woman’s existence, experience
and the sensory world from a woman’s perception are the
materials that make up her work.
Akhtar Jahan Ivy (1958- ) is one among a few women
sculptors. She grows more productive from the nineties.
Childhood memories, the environment and nature have
found a place in her work. She works in cement, bronze,
sheet metal, wood, terracotta etc. media (pl. 2.20). A simple
abstraction of elements and figures from her known world
distinguished her work. 47
Dilara Begum Jolly (1960- ) has continued to represent
social reality directly in her work. She has given form to
social contradiction, oppression, inequalities and injustice
in pictorial language. Among her chosen themes,
discrimination against women and her feministic viewpoint

286 ART AND CRAFTS


is constantly and explicitly presented in her work. The style
of her work is very simple and unrestrained. Her emotions
and insight are more active in representing her subject than
intellectual analysis. Jolly portrayed the horrors of the Iraq
war with great spontaneity in a series of paintings in mixed
media. The content and objective are the driving forces of
Jolly’s work. Yet, in the distinctive language of art she
employs, the purity of art is ever present due to the
spontaneous combination of form and content. Jolly’s work
is also very individual in terms of language. The interior of
the woman’s body as felt by herself is boldly presented in
her work besides the external form of the woman (fig. 7.24).
Fareha Zeba (1961) in her show entitled Homage to Frida
Kahlo of 1998 sought her history as a woman artist through
the work of the Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo. The pain of
Frida’s tragic life seems to stretch across the barriers of
time and space and speaks for Zeba. The notable aspect of
this exhibition was a woman’s tribute, empathy and compassion for another woman.
Zeba’s work also portrays the oppression and discrimination against women and
women who have successfully surmounted these obstacles. Her form is figurative and
her use of medium expresses dynamic swiftness. She expresses the power and strength
of women in her depictions of women who have left their mark on time (fig. 7.27).
Ferdousi Priyabhashini (1948- ) is a self-taught artist. She began to work in the
nineties. In the early stages her creations made of wood, roots, leaves etc. collected
from nature were aimed at decorating her household (pl. 2.22). Later she began
exhibiting in group shows and held a number of solo exhibitions. She breathes
meaning into natural objects of meaningless beauty and harmonizes diverse objects. It
is almost instinctive in
women to recycle used
material. This tendency is
seen in her work as in the
traditional nakshi kantha
of Bengal.
Atia Islam Anne (1962- )
has single-mindedly
painted on the subject of
fig. 7.24 (top) Dilara
Begum Jolly, Embryo the inferior status of
Withdrawn-11, 2002 women in society. Her
form and language are
fig. 7.25 (bottom) Sufia unique. She uses
Begum, Post Meridian- seemingly surreal
9, oil, 1996 elements, but they are not

WOMEN ARTISTS 287


born of the sub-conscious. fig. 7.26 (top) Niloofar
She uses and establishes Chaman, Virgin in a
particular symbols which Rocky Mountain, mixed
represent the oppression and media, 1992
helplessness of women in
society (fig. 7.28). The fig. 7.27 (bottom)
elements used in her Fareha Zeba, Twilight
composition come quite close Magic-2, 2003
to reality, but not exactly and
a variety of geometric lines
and shapes create a shallow
and unreal space in her
canvas. According to Abul
Mansur, ‘. . . to understand an
artist like Anne one must
consider her femininity or
else the assessment will not be complete . . . woman is at the center of the entire
pictorial space.’ [Trans.]
48
Niloofar Chaman (1962- ) is another female artist who has completely ignored the
language of established mainstream art in Bangladesh and gone her own way. 49
Niloofar’s colors are sharp, her forms figural, floating in water and in the process of
transformation. Humans, animals and plants are portrayed with equal importance on
her canvas. It is as though they are not separated, but pervade each other. The endless
cycle of sexuality and reproduction in a water-flooded universe gives her work a
distinction (fig. 7.26). Abul Mansur wrote, ‘Although she is deeply hurt and revolted
by the organized barbarities and depravity of man, she
adopts the means of allegorical expressionism, rather than
the direct statement, for her intensely subjective feelings.’ 50
Traditional symbols such as the hand, lotus etc. are used in
her current work. Her installations are also significant.
Kanak Chanpa Chakma’s (1963- ) source of inspiration is
the daily life of the Chakma people and the natural beauty
of her birthplace, Rangamati. She uses the accepted
language of mainstream art to represent traditional subjects
(fig. 7.29). The different activities of women are the prime
focus of her work.
Nasima Haque Mitu (1967- ) has selected the carving
technique in sculpture. Her work is unique for the use of very
simple and pure yet meaningful and symbolic forms (fig. 7.30).
It is as if the intent is to seek inner meaning, not to explain. Her
work expresses the dichotomy and the relationship between the
male and the female in a very subtle way.

288 ART AND CRAFTS


Tayeba Begum Lipi (1969- ) depicts the
exploitation and objectification of
women in her work. She has often used
her self-portrait to express the self-
realization of her statement. The
objectification of the female body by
exhibiting the unclad female body at one
end and the burkha-clad one at the other,
these two different ways in which society
controls and manipulates the female body
is pictured in her work. A number of her
installations have been exhibited at
different times besides her paintings
(figs. 1.42, 6.15).
Sulekha Chaudhury has depicted
woman’s life and the exploitation and
violence against women in society
through her paintings. She uses objects of
daily life as her symbols (pl. 1.48).
Apart from the women artists mentioned
above also noteworthy are Tandra Das

(1956- ), Masuda Kazi (1948),
Murshida Arzoo Alpana (1961- ), Laila
Sharmin (1964- ), Sufia Begum (1968- )
(fig. 7.25), Farzana Islam Milky
(1974- ) and others.
On analysis we may observe that the
work of women artists is contrary to the
general flow of the mainstream. Most
women artists who have been discussed
have experimented to discover the
language of their individual expression.
Most women artists have used
fig. 7.28 (top) Atia figurative imagery. It is noticeable that
Islam Anne, Burn-1, women have shown greater courage in
acrylic on canvas, 2003
their search for new paths. Pure
formalism has not encompassed them
fig. 7.29 (bottom)
Kanak Chanpa Chakma, completely, rather the people of society,
Girl in a Tribal Festival, life and reality have created discourse
oil on canvas, 1999 and given distinction to their work.

WOMEN ARTISTS 289


With women artists entering into the fig. 7.30 Nasima Haque
mainstream art world, the Mitu, Mass and
representation of women in art has Balance, wood, 2006
been transformed. Women often
represent themselves as the subject.
Thus, the objectification of women or
role as ‘other’ in the eyes of men in a
male-centric art world has naturally
not featured in the works of women
artists. Women have portrayed their
experiences and emotions with their
own existence and from their own
perspective. The unity between the art
of the women of the most distant past
and the women of today is that women
still want to represent communal life
and change it with their art.









Notes and References:
1. Robert Skelton, ‘Folk Art Other than Paintings and Textiles’ in Robert Skelton and Mark Francis (eds.)
Arts of Bengal: The Heritage of Bengal and Eastern India, (London 1979), 57.
2. Sila Basak, Banglar Brataparban, (Calcutta 1998), 2.
3. Niharranjan Roy, Bangalir Itihas: Adiparba, (Calcutta 1990), 483.
4. Ibid., 484.
5. Pupul Jayakar, The Earth Mother, (Calcutta 1990), 117.
6. Stella Kramrisch, ‘Foreword,’ ibid., 21.
7. Sudhansu Kumar Ray, The Ritual Art of the Bratas of Bengal, (Calcutta 1961), 42.
8. S. Basak, op. cit., 35.
9. Ibid., 29.
10. P. Jayakar, op. cit., 42-43.
11. Dineshchandra Sen, Brihatbanga, Vol. 1, (Calcutta 1993), 425.
12. Ibid., 426.
13. Jasimuddin, ‘Pallishilpa’ in Mihir Bhattarchaya and Dipankar Ghose (eds.), Bangia Shilpya Parichoy,
(Kolkata 2004), 50-58.
14. Mohammad Sayeedur Rahman, ‘Decorative Arts,’ in An Anthology of Crafts of Bangladesh, Dr.
Enamul Haque (ed.), (Dhaka 1987), 28.
15. Jasimuddin, op. cit., 50.

290 ART AND CRAFTS


16. Heide-Goettner Abendroth, ‘Nine Principles of Matriarchal Aesthetics,’ in Art and Its Significance, An
Anthology of Aesthetics, David Ross (ed.), (New York 1994), 568.
17. Partha Mitter, Art and Nationalism in Colonial India 1850-1922, (Cambridge 1994), 75.
18. Jogesh Chandra Bagal, ‘History of the Govt. College of Art and Craft,’ Centenary Government College
of Art and Craft Calcutta, (Calcutta 1966), 49-50.
19. Germaine Greer, The Obstacle Race, (New York 1979), 7.
20. Kamal Sarkar, Bharater Bhaskar O Chitrashilpi, (Calcutta 1984), 50.
21. Ibid., 217.
22. Ibid., 221.
23. Kishore Chatterjee, ‘Three Women Painters of Bengal,’ in The Crafts of Bengal and Eastern India, R.
P. Gupta (ed.), (Calcutta 1982), 84.
24. Anupam Hayat, Meherbanu Khanam, (Dhaka 1997), 54.
25. Ibid., 56.
26. Ibid., 66.
27. K. Sarkar, op. cit., 216.
28. A. Hayat, op. cit., 59.
29. K. Chatterjee, op. cit., 84-85 and K. Sarkar, op. cit., 109-110.
30. Vide K. Sarkar, Ibid., 199 and K. Chatterjee, Ibid., 85.
31. K. Sarkar, Ibid., 216.
32. Ibid., 108.
33. Ibid., 26-27.
34. Ibid., 54.
35. Ibid., 25.
36. Ibid., 27.
37. Ibid., 236.
38. Ibid., 169.
39. Ibid., 187.
40. Ibid., 57.
41. Mohammad Nazrul Islam Aghrani, Shilpi Shashibhusanpal O Maheshwarpasha School of Art,
unpublished dissertation (1988), 18.
42. ‘Rumi Islam a Woman Painter,’ Contemporary Arts in Pakistan, Vol. II, No. 4 (Winter 1961).
43. Nasim Ahmed Nadvi, ‘Introduction,’ She a Group Art Exhibition, (Dhaka 1994).
44. Anna Islam, 3rd Solo Show, Naima Haque, (Dhaka 2000).
45. Abul Mansur, Dipa Haq Ekak Chitra Pradarshani, (Dhaka 1998).
46. S. Manzoorul Islam, Sojourn Exhibition of Works by Rokeya Sultana, La Galerie, Dhaka.
47. Forms and Elements, Unity and Diversity, compiled and edited by Nasimul Khabir, (Dhaka 2006).
48. Abul Mansur, Anne 2000, 1st Solo Painting Exhibition, (Dhaka 2000).
49. Abul Mansur, Niloofar Chaman Drawings in Mixed Media 1994, Dhaka
50. Loc. cit.

8




FIRST GENERATION ARTIST
a. Zainul Abedin
Nisar Hossain


The forefathers of Zainul Abedin were inhabitants of Darirampur village of Trishal
Thana situated in Mymensingh. His great grandfather left Darirampur and came to
Kachijhuli village near Mymensingh town and began to live there. Zainul’s
1
grandfather was a trader of thatching grass. He was especially interested in educating
his children but as he died an untimely death his wish remained unfulfilled. His eldest
son Tamizuddin (Zainul’s father) finished Class VIII and went to seek admission to the
Shibpur Engineering School. However, due to the sudden death of his father the
economic responsibilities of the family fell on his shoulders and he was forced to take
the job of Literate Constable in the Police Department. Later he was employed in the
2
Kishoreganj Police Station as an A.S.I. of Police and with his wife and daughter found
lodgings at a small house adjacent to the Police Station. It was in this house on the bank fig. 8.1 Zainul Abedin
of the Narshunda River that on 29 December of 1914 at 8:30 in the
morning that Zainul was born. He was nicknamed Tunu. He was the
third child of his parents. His mother Zainabunnessa’s two first issues
were daughters and the next five, sons. Of them the eldest daughter
3
Moina died in infancy and the sixth child, the handicapped son
Chanmian died at the age of 16. Although born in Kishoreganj,
4
because of his father’s transferable job, Zainul’s boyhood (the first 12
years) was spent in different Police Station areas of Mymensingh
(Kishoreganj, Kendua, Mithamoin and Sherpur). Later in 1926
5
Tamizuddin built a chauchala corrugated iron house after buying a plot
of land from his wife’s younger brother near his father-in-law’s house
at Akua Madrasah Quarter area of Mymensingh town. This brought
stability to the education of his children and the family residence. After
6
that, till 1932, that is, before Zainul’s admission to the Calcutta
Government Art School he spent his adolescent days in Mymensingh. 7
In those days Mymensingh was one of the regions of Bengal that were
ahead of the others in the practice of art, literature, education and

292 ART AND CRAFTS


culture. Through the patronization of the zamindars and other prominent persons of
this region there were established quite a number of schools and colleges, beautiful
buildings and welfare-oriented social and cultural institutions in Mymensingh. With
their initiative the Swaraswat Samiti and Mymensingh Sabha were also established in
Mymensingh. Maulvi Hamiduddin Ahmad (1841-1915) of Zainul’s grandfather’s
area, Kachijhuli, was directly involved and active in these associations which played
a very important role also in the Muslim awakening of that area. These institutions
8
took the initiative to frequently organize various cultural functions or exhibitions.
Periodicals featuring the writings of renowned poets, litterateurs and researchers and
reproductions of art works of prominent artists of Bengal were also published from
Mymensingh. The first initiative of establishing an art school in the geographical area
9
of present Bangladesh was also taken by the learned society of Mymensingh town (in
1886). Nearly all the zamindars of Mymensingh including Suryakanta Acharya and
Jahnabi Devi Chowdhurani supported artists in many ways. With their assistance
10
some artists of Mymensingh availed themselves of the opportunity of going to Europe
for education and the fame of quite a few of them spread throughout the whole of
India. The inhabitants of Mymensingh could get regular news through newspapers and
periodicals about the artistic talent and activities of the successful sons of
Mymensingh like Sashi Kumar Hesh, Hemendranath Majumdar or Atul Bose.
Therefore, it is thought with justifiable reasons that living permanently in the
environment of Mymensingh town was the reason behind the development and
manifestation of Zainul’s artistic talent. However, Zainul’s interest in drawing had
probably begun to grow earlier – when he lived in Sherpur. This is because when he
was a student of Ramarangini M. E. School (four years) there was a drawing teacher
there. Possibly it was in this school of his boyhood that Zainul became attracted to
11
drawing naturalistic forms. The locality in Sherpur where they lived was inhabited
mostly by Hindus and also had a culturally developed atmosphere. After coming to
12
Akua Madrasah Quarters upon leaving Sherpur, Zainul was admitted to the Pandit
Bari Pathshala and that is when he began to show a greater interest in drawing pictures
than in his studies. Often after returning from school he did line drawings with a stick
on the ground of the courtyard at home following the illustrations in the text books. 13
Fearing that his studies might be hampered, his family did not particularly encourage
Zainul in his artistic pursuits. Later in Zilla School and lastly, when studying in the
Mrityunjay School, Zainul became so enthusiastic about drawing that he drew pictures
on the pages of his books and even submitted his examination scripts with pictures
drawn in them instead of writing the answers. The teachers of the school and for that
14
matter, the guardians were not overly surprised by such behavior on Zainul’s part. This
was because previously as a student of Class VII, he had won a prize in an all-India
competition for children and adolescents called by Bombay Chronicle for drawing a
picture on the game of golf and they had expectations about the talent and potentiality
of Zainul as a painter. Zainul himself, in the meanwhile, began to prepare himself and
gather information about getting admitted to the Calcutta Government Art School

FIRST GENERATION ARTIST 293


(probably he become certain that there was no necessity to pass the Secondary School
Examination to study this subject). On the way, to the Mrityunjay School he
discovered the whereabouts of the ‘Agfa’ studio, which was the regular haunt of some
connoisseurs of painting. The proprietor of this studio, Premranjan Dasgupta, had
connections with the renowned artists Hemen Majumdar and Prohlad Karmakar. One
of the brothers of Premranjan Dasgupta who lived in Patna was also a painter. Besides,
a few of the students from Mymensingh studying at the Calcutta Art School who
returned home on vacations were acquaintances of Zainul. With their encouragement
and cooperation, Zainul once went to Kolkata and visited the Art School (in about the
year 1930-31) without the knowledge of his parents. Though sympathetic to his son’s
heart’s desire, it was not possible for Zainul’s father, who had taken early retirement
from his job, to arrange for his son to stay in Kolkata and study at the Art School with
the limited resources of his pension (30 takas) after providing for his seven member
household. In the end, assured of a monthly scholarship of 15 takas from the
Mymensingh Zilla Board in 1932 it was without appearing in the Secondary School
Examinations that Zainul left Mymensingh with the intention of getting admission to
the Calcutta Government Art School. The money for travel expenses and staying in
Kolkata before obtaining the scholarship was collected from the sale of his mother’s
gold ornaments. 15
At that time the environment of the Calcutta Art School was also sufficiently liberal.
Mukul Dey, the artist nourished by the blessing of Rabindranath, was then the
Principal of the Art School. The news that a youth from the remote area of
Mymensingh belonging to the Muslim community, which was generally uninterested
in the practice of art, had come to Kolkata and credited himself by standing first in the
admission test, amazed Principal Mukul Dey as it did the majority of teachers.
Learning about Zainul’s poor economic circumstances, he sent the required letter of
recommendation for Zainul’s Mymensingh Zilla Board Scholarship infringing the
code of the institution. 16
On reaching Kolkata Zainul first took shelter at the residence of his maternal uncle
Jalaluddin, who was the chauffeur of the renowned Ghaznavi family of Kolkata. 18
17
Due to whatever reason, be it his uncle’s insufficient economic condition, limited
living space, environment, etc. Zainul took leave from the place. He spent some nights
like a vagabond in mosques and various other places, in the end he somehow found
shelter at the mess-house in No. 31 Wellesley Street. Due to the insufficiency of space,
his living arrangements in the first few days was made in an empty space under the
staircase of that mess-house. 19
At that time Zainul accepted even this demeaning arrangement with a grateful spirit.
Actually, the expansion of universal education had in those days established the right
for people from all religions and communities to study together in the same institution.
However, the environment and the mentality for all to live and eat together had not
grown yet. Consequently , housing problem became inevitable among the students
from minority religious communities coming to study in Kolkata from other areas.

294 ART AND CRAFTS


Zainul had to stay in this same mess-house for the next two to three years after his
admission to the Calcutta Art School. He later went to live near the residence of the
artist Anwarul Huq family, at Bondel Road in the ground floor verandah of an old two-
storied building in a small room walled off by coarse bamboo-split mats. Before this,
20
during his stay at the Wellesley Street mess-house he had to take the responsibility of
keeping his younger brother (younger by one year) Zayedur Rahim with him to study
for his I.A. in the Kolkata Islamia College. Moreover, from then on he also regularly
had to send an amount of money as assistance for the household of his needy parents.
These were the reasons why in spite of his getting a scholarship to earn money (from
the time when he was a student of the 2nd year) he was forced to expend a lot of time
and energy in various odd jobs like doing cartoons in the Hanafi magazine, drawing
designs on lamp shades, etc. The amazing thing is that, all this extra pressure could
21
not create the slightest disturbance in the performance of his compulsory duties and
dedication as a student. Rather he always easily retained the recognition of being the
best student in the class. Thus, from his student life he did not avoid the cruel realities
of an adverse life; rather he faced them with an unwavering, firm spirit and gradually
made it his ideal in life to go forward in the face of adverse reality. This ideal and his
mentality are clearly reflected at a later period in various administrative activities
conducive to the growth of fine arts by overcoming religious and social obstacles in
the Muslim majority part of Bengal (present Bangladesh). It was also reflected in his
art works (in the selection of subject, presentation and the use of lines and colors).
We do not have enough information to put forward any indisputable opinion about the
person on whose encouragement and inspiration the boy Zainul was first attracted to
drawing pictures and the kind of attitude towards fine arts and artists he had when he
took admission to the Art School. However, it is a fact that the mental attitude of the
Bengali Muslims of that era was very narrow regarding the practice of art. This
22
illiberal attitude was ingrained in them through their religious legacy. Specially due to
the Tarika-e-Mohammadia, Faraizi movements that had occurred in the nineteenth
century in the liberal Muslim society of this region, there was a gradual return to the
original and pure Islam along with which there originated the awareness of Muslim
separateness and disrespectful attitude towards non-Muslim beliefs. As a result of
23
this mental attitude, although at one stage a large section of patuas or chitrakars
(painters) among traditional, hereditary folk artists converted to Islam, there was no
recognition or appreciation of their profession in Muslim society, and they had to
remain dependent on the Hindu community. Moreover, the manufacturers of utility
24
art-products and craft goods created for daily needs, with the exception of weavers
(and in some regions the makers of copper and bronze utensils) the carpenters,
blacksmiths, goldsmiths and potters, though they all belonged to the Hindu
community from time immemorial, they also satisfied the day-to-day needs of the
Muslims alongside that of the Hindus. However, for all these artists and craftsmen,
there was only enough opportunities for expressing their ultimate artistic skills and
being appreciated through drawing pictures on religious subjects for the Hindu

FIRST GENERATION ARTIST 295


community, or making idols for them. Other than this, through the patronization of the
Nayeb-e-Nizam of Dhaka, who were of the Shi’ite sect, a faint tradition of painting
closely related to the Mughal Style had continued in Dhaka. Although its practice
25
survived till the second half of the nineteenth century in the Mukabbir family of
Dhaka it was probably because of the return to that ‘original and pure Islam’ that it
26
came to an end. Although kantha or some other ornamental handicrafts were in
currency in Muslim families too, but as there was no opportunity in those days to
convert such work into professions providing a livelihood, these were primarily a kind
of irregular amateur activity helping pregnant and old women to pass their leisure
time. These colorful, design oriented amateur art works created by women were not
equal in comparison to painting and there was no relation to these with the family
earnings, thus painting was considered to be a mere feminine hobby or feminine work
in the patriarchal society dependent on agriculture (even among the Hindu community
of Bengal the women in each family were the ones who regularly engaged in drawing
pictures through painting alpanas). 27
These traditional ideas of the people of this region about painting began to change to
a certain extent by coming under European rule. New areas of work developed for
28
the worldly needs of the European traders and rulers. However, the mentality,
knowledge and skills of the local professionals dependent on traditional hereditary
skills were not considered qualified to meet these needs. This saw the growth of
secular education. Secular education created the opportunity for the selection of a
29
person’s profession according to that person’s own choice and qualifications. Thus, the
earlier limits or boundaries of birth and caste ceased to remain insuperable. People of
all religions and castes of this region had the growing inclination to change their fate
through receiving education and adopting ways of livelihood suitable for the times. 30
Alongsides, a change in taste began to grow. It was through this process that at one
stage the art schools began to be established here and the people of this region began
to become familiar and interested in the naturalistic style of western art. 31
Different designs and pictures began to be added to the textbooks for primary
education like the introduction to the alphabets, numbers etc. composed as a part of
secular education for easier understanding. To the common people of this region this
was probably a novel form of art completely outside the artistic styles based on
religion. They were simple representations or imitations of the natural world. The
producers of these worldly art works composed to satisfy the needs of a new age were
able to draw the attention of the Bengali Muslims as earners of livelihood. Alongside
32
book designing the demand for western type realistic litho prints, portraits done in oil
paints, etc. executed by artists gradually increased and at the end of the nineteenth
century the fame, income and status of artists skilled in this style increased to an
unprecedented degree. Those few artists of Mymensingh, where Zainul spent his
boyhood and adolescence, who had gained fame in the first two to three decades of the
early twentieth century throughout India (their names have already been mentioned

296 ART AND CRAFTS


above), had all acquired skills in this western method of producing naturalistic art
(painting portraits, depicting landscapes or narratives or showing proficiency in book
design). Besides financial success and fame, some got the opportunity of obtaining
scholarships to go abroad, others were awarded gold medals or employment as court
artists of local royalty earning unthinkably high salaries. On the other hand, Zainul
33
did not seem to have any special interest (even after getting admission to the art
school) in the artists of the Bengal School who had a completely new attitude and
awareness and were much discussed and acclaimed in India and the outside world.
For, after being promoted to the third year when the time arrived for department
selection, Zainul disregarded the advise of his well-wisher and teacher, Principal
Mukul Dey and instead of getting admission into the ‘Indian Art’ department he got
admitted to the ‘Fine Art’ department to learn to paint in oil colors in the Western
manner. (It is to be mentioned that the ‘Fine Art’ department later became known as
34
‘Drawing and Painting Department.’ Even now the classical technique of oil color is
taught only in this department.) Besides getting admission to this department, he also
35
maintained contact with Atul Bose, the artist famed for his skill in portrait painting.
Zainul went to his studio regularly and at one stage himself rented a studio near Atul
Bose’s and began to live there. The surprising thing is that, even after he acquired
36
skills in portrait painting and was successful and earning money by doing illustrations,
in the end he did not try to become established as an illustrator or portrait painter.
Rather, right from his student days, like a true artist, he began to advance towards a
different goal. Therefore, based on the information given above, it may perhaps not
37
be unjustified to put forward an opinion that, at the beginning when he got admission
to the art school, Zainul’s aim was mainly to make himself fit for earning a livelihood
by properly mastering the skills of the western academic style; but even during his
student life he made an effort to free himself from that ambition to go forth with a
different kind of awareness. Therefore, in works right from his early student life we
observe side by side with perfect skill in the academic style, an incisively sensitive
power of observation. Actually, that he was prone to observing life and nature right
38
from his childhood can be ascertained from the memoirs he wrote of his childhood
entitled, Ami Jokhon Chhoto Chhilam. The intensely focused observation of nature
and popular life of rural Bengal described in this childhood memoir seems to have
been composed as a restatement in pictures as Shambhuganj (pen and ink, 1933),
(water color, 1933), Village Scene (1934), Harvest (oil painting, 1934), Labourer
(Pencil, 1935), etc. done during his student life. Generally, the pioneer artists of the
39
western academic style in that age painted female nudes and commissioned portraits
or landscapes filled with romantic sentiments such as – the worshipper saying his
prayers in the field at the onset of evening, village bride concealed by the forest,
cowherd with a herd of cows at the end of grazing etc., dominated as subjects. The
40
paintings were done mainly with the local royalty, zamindars, merchants or the
handful of wealthy buyers in mind. On the other hand, Zainul’s scenes of rural Bengal
and his pictures based on life, expressed the feel of the perceptible world and
faithfulness to its nature, behind which there was a deep worldly understanding

FIRST GENERATION ARTIST 297


instead of romantic moods and emotions. This changing consciousness beginning in
41
his student life was probably particularly due to the changed circumstances of the Art
School in those times. For instance, the joining of Mukul Dey as the Principal of the
Art School in 1928 was itself an unthinkable event, contrary to accepted tradition. He
was at the same time the first Indian Principal of that School, also as an artist he was
42
closely connected to the Bengal School which had different opinions about the method
of education from that of the Art School. Within a very short time after joining the Art
School he organized an exhibition in the School premises of the paintings of Jamini
Roy (1929) executed in the style of folk art, furthermore, an exhibition of the startling
paintings of Rabindranath (1932) which were free from all kinds of traditions or
43
styles. Even in the present age they put forward a question for the need for institutional
art education. Thus, with justifiable reasons, it is presumed that ‘enlightened by his
proximity to Rabindranath and Nandalal, Mukul Dey was sufficiently well informed
about western modernism as a result of his stay in Europe. There occurred an
integration in his artistic consciousness between his native land and the world. That
ideal also inspired Zainul.’ [Trans.] It was perhaps due to this reason that even after
44
he achieved extraordinary facility, Zainul was not seen to follow any of the great
painters of the academic method. Among Zainul’s teachers in the Art School,
45
Ramendranath Chakravorty had received his education from Santiniketan’s Kala
Bhavana, Kolkata’s Art School and the Slade School of London. Although another
46
teacher, Manindra Bhushan Gupta was a teacher of painting he was also a scholar and
an accomplished writer on the history and theory of art. From him the students could
learn extensively about the various movements of modern art in Europe. 47 The
proximity of these two teachers also helped the conscious students of the Art School
to be enlightened by the contemporary sensibility. 48
Although those who came from Santiniketan as teachers of the Calcutta Art School
were either directly or indirectly close to the school of Abanindranath, they also had
the opportunity to be moved by the consciousness of contemporary world art during
their period of education in Santiniketan. There they broke the bondage of the illusion
of epics-puranas-history of the ideal of Abanindranath and turned their eyes in the
direction of the life pulsing all around them because of the teacher inspired by the
ideal of Rabindranath and Nandalal Bose. 49 Moreover, they also began to get
acquainted with the new streams of the west through the series of lectures delivered
by the renowned art theorist Stella Kramrisch who had come at the invitation of
50
Rabindranath and through learning oil painting and woodcut of an expressionist type
from the artist inspired by the French post-impressionist ideal, Andre Karpelles. 51
In the etchings that Mukul Dey and Ramendranath Chakravorty were producing
alongside their work as teachers in the Calcutta Art School, actual scenes of rural
Bengal ‘became manifest in fine lines.’ [Trans.] That the subjective encouragement of
those pictures by Mukul Dey and Ramendranath also influenced Zainul, can be stated
without any doubt. For, Zainul had also learned printmaking from Ramendranath
52
Chakravorty and Mukul Dey regularly looked into his sketch books. Moreover, at
53