Page 188 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

PRINTMAKING 185

department. With the opportunity of fig. 3.11 Habibur
institutional education in printmaking the Rahman, Print, etching,
younger generation of students are 1986
becoming interested in it and are also
obtaining professional degrees in this fig. 3.12 Anisuzzaman,
medium (B.F.A./M.F.A.). Many young Complexity-18,
artists working in this medium are woodcut, 2002
participating in various exhibitions and
receiving national and international awards.
The works of the younger generation of
artists of Bangladesh show many different
tendencies. Non-objective, subject based,
realistic, all of these trends are present in
their work. They are facile in all the media
of printmaking, for example etching,
woodcut, drypoint, lithography; silk screen-
print has been added as a new medium.
Some artists living abroad had
print exhibitions in this country in
the nineties which inspired the young generation to seek new directions. Monirul
Islam (Spain), Shahid Kabir (Spain) and Wakilur Rahman (Germany) are
important in this field among the artists residing abroad.
Wakilur Rahman living in Germany himself belongs to the younger generation of
artists; his Chinese calligraphy and etching prints influenced by Zen art brought
novelty to the field of printmaking of Bangladesh (pl.3.10). Monirul Islam (New
York) was trained in the viscosity medium of printmaking from the renowned
artist Krishna Reddy in New York. He is an artist of the abstract expressionist
stream; his viscosity prints appealed to the art lovers of this country.
Rafi Haque influenced by Monirul Islam (Spain) began to execute figurative
etchings on a colorful ground. Later, however, some changes appeared in his
work; he used various photographic images and created prints of a different
flavor. Rafi Haque is a successful young printmaker and has received an award
in 2003 in the Paris Print Triennale (pl.3.11).
Mokhlesur Rahman, Muslim Mia (pl.3.13), Amirul Momanin Chowdhury
(pl.3.14), Selina Chowdhury (pl.3.15) and other artists are all devoted
practitioners in woodcut. Mokhlesur Rahman’s prints are very colorful; he
captures nature from the bird’s eye view in woodcuts, sometimes in realistic and
sometimes in abstract form (pl.3.12). In 2001 he was awarded the Grand Prize
in the Dhaka Asian Art Biennale.
Ahmed Nazir is an artist devoted to printmaking; he regularly experiments in
this medium (pl.3.21). His works are primarily non-objective. Laila Sharmeen
also deserves mention for her etching. The subjects of her etchings are nature