Page 187 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

184 ART AND CRAFTS

(1984). He has participated in a number of group and solo exhibitions in the country
and abroad and has also received awards (pl.3.5).
Abul Barq Alvi joined the Institute of Fine Arts in 1972. He has been an involved and
dedicated teacher of the Printmaking department for a long time. He received training in
Japan and also participated in the workshop of Pons de Leon (Karachi 1968). He has
created quite a number of art works in the etching and aquatint media (pl.3.6). His work
entitled Black and Green (1983) deserves mention.
Rokeya Sultana completed her B.F.A. Degree in 1979 and obtained her M.F.A. Degree in
1987 from Visva Bharati, Santiniketan to join the Institute of Fine Art as a teacher. She
has worked in different media of printmaking and has also received prizes. She is
primarily most spontaneous in the etching medium. Her Madonna series done in 1992-93
is much appreciated (pl.3.7). It depicts the position of mothers and children of our country.
Her Madonna sometimes represents the hungry labor mother, sometimes the portrait of a
mother as a struggling bus passenger. She received an award in 1995 in the International
Graphic Art Biennale of Bhopal in India.
Among the other printmakers who have played a role in advancing printmaking of this
country; the names of Shahid Kabir, Ratan Majumdar, A.K.M. Alamgir and others
may be mentioned.
Shahid Kabir works with great facility in the etching medium. He creates images like
brush strokes using the sugar bite method in his etchings. This means, his etchings
achieve the feeling of spontaneousness that is possible with ease using brush on paper
(pl.3.8). His important works are Margarita (1994) and Highway (1992), both done in
the etching medium.
Ratan Majumdar made his appearance as a printmaker in the late seventies and his work
is mainly composed of black-and-white woodcut prints. His drawing based woodcut
prints in white lines on black background received acclaim from our art world at one stage
(fig. 3.10). Happiness of Nudity (1977) is one of his notable works. In 1982 he held a solo
exhibition of woodcut prints at the Shilpakala Academy.
A.K.M. Alamgir emerged as an important artist in the field of prints at the beginning of
the eighties. He was accomplished in the etching technique. He is mainly an artist of the
non-objective stream. From the technical point of view his experiments in taking prints
using parts of various big and small plates is noteworthy. In his etching aquatint of 1982
entitled Kitchen he has introduced the forms of utensils used in the kitchen. It is needless
to say that instead of the mimetic rendering of objects he has experimented more with the
variety of forms (pl.3.9). At present he resides in Canada.
The Young Generation of Printmakers
Today educational institutions of fine arts have been established in every big town of
Bangladesh. Each institution offers courses in printmaking according to the syllabus in
currency. Separate printmaking departments have also been set up in the universities. A
separate printmaking studio has developed in the Institute of Fine Art of the Dhaka
University. The Chittagong Art College had also established a printmaking studio. Among
the private universities the University of Development Alternative has a printmaking