Page 213 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

210 ART AND CRAFTS

Purnendu Patri. It can be said that these three persons took the cover design industry
to a different level.
There is no need to introduce Satyajit Ray. He is world famous as a film director. But
before he entered the film arena, he was involved in designing covers and illustrations
of Bengali books since his early days and continued doing so until his death.
Following the path of his father and grandfather, Satyajit Ray, the student of Nandalal
and Benode Behari at Kala Bhavana in Santiniketan opened up a new world of
illustration. In the 40s, led by D.K.Gupta some amazing publications were produced
from Signet Press. Many of them became unprecedented with the touch of Satyajit
Ray. Apart from the diversity of cover, exceptional title page, smoothness in
typography, lettering, illustration and binding, the signs of taste and creativity are all
credits of Satyajit Ray. Throughout his career he has done the covers and illustrations
of around 400 books and magazines (fig. 4.15). Bengali readers cannot easily forget
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the cover and illustration designed for his own writings, Pheluda and Professor
Shonku. When Sandesh was published, again he showed unusual creativity in its
cover and illustration.
The principle feature of Satyajit Ray’s work is that he broke with his own style
repeatedly and moved beyond himself. He carved a niche for himself in the history of
cover design and illustration in Bangladesh as a pioneer with various methods and
techniques of his own innovation. It will not be an exaggeration to say that the model
he established in the publication industry in Bengal is still followed today. It is
difficult to go beyond the sphere of his influence.
Khaled Chowdhury is another influential cover and illustration artist. His most
significant works are Mahasweta Devi’s translation of Jim Corbett Omnibus, Rahul
Sankrityayan’s Volga Theke Ganga, Mahasweta Devi’s Hajar Churashir Ma, Syed
Mujtaba Ali’s Chacha-Kahini etc.
Later on artist Purnendu Patri also added a new dimension in the history of cover
fig. 4.15 (bottom) design and illustration in Bengal. We can name numerous books as examples- Eka
Satyajit Ray, Am Antir Ebong Koyekjon, Kathopakathon, Panthojoner Sokha and many collections of poetry
Bhepu, illustration by Shakti Chattopadhyaya and Sunil Gangopadhyaya. Purnendu also gave thought to
lettering as did Benode Behari, Satyajit and Khaled Chowdhury and experimented