Page 205 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

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largest poster. Nowadays, gigantic posters are made which are printed in pieces and
then assembled together (pl. 4.3).
Other than cinema posters, another widely used kind of poster is for the election
campaign. Before liberation, during the Pakistani regime, the posters for election
campaigns had ‘Allahu Akbar’ written at the top irrespective of the candidate’s
religion. From 1971 to ’75/’76 only the name of the candidate and the electoral
emblem were used in election campaign posters. However, later on the pictures of
candidates began to be used. Until the beginning of the 80s these posters were limited
to one or two colors only. But from the mid 80s these posters used four colors.
Attempts to give variations and aesthetic treatment to the presentation of subject
matter can be observed in these posters. The political parties frequently use posters to
disseminate information about their political viewpoint and activities like meetings
and assemblies. These political posters use images which go with the philosophy of
their respective parties.
After liberation in the 70s the theatre movement in Bangladesh became very strong.
We find a new rush of flavor in posters of different theatres in the 80s. Before that,
posters were designed with the title and other information about the play. Sometimes
photographs were used in them. However, we first see an example of the aesthetic
expression of the play’s theme in Ashok Karmaker’s (1963 - ) design of the poster of
Talpatar Sepai by the group Dhaka Padatik. Among several other quality posters of
plays we find Mahbub Akand’s design of Ekhono Kritodash by Theatre, Qayyum
fig. 4.9 Annihilate these Chowdhury’s design of Nuruldiner Sarajibon by Nagorik Natya Sampraday,
Demons, Quamrul Shakespeare’s Tempest and Macbeth in joint collaboration of Theatre and Nagorik
Hassan`s famous Natya Sampraday and sponsored by the British Council and Satpurusher Rin by
caricature of Yahya Aranyak. In the poster of Theatre’s Payer Awaj Pawa Jay the photograph of the cast
Khan published in 1971 was used. Not all posters of theatre have pictures of the cast, rather in keeping with
the theme and mood of the play sometimes drawing,
watercolor or photographs are used (pl. 4.4). In recent
works of Prachyanat’s Circus Circus (pl. 4.5), Palakar’s
Mangula, Aranyak’s Rarang there were attempts to
bring innovation and variation in poster design.
A huge number of posters are designed in Bangladesh
apart from cinemas, plays or election campaigns. A large
portion of this belongs to the advertisement of products
of different commercial organizations. Companies like
Bata, Singer, Unilever etc. make posters to advertise
their products. The significant feature of these posters is
the use of male or female models. In Bangladesh the use
of human photographs in posters and other
advertisements started from the 80s. The appearance of
celebrities as models is also a significant feature.