Page 230 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

GRAPHIC DESIGN 227

Studio and other organizations similar to this and Raja Ravi Varma’s oleographs were
highly appreciated by both the rural and urban populations. These prints were
primarily used for home decoration. Sometimes considering the popularity of these
prints, they were also used for the publicity of an organization. For example, a
lithograph named Kali was used for the advertisement of Kali cigarette (pl. 4.9). In
this poster, we can see that almost all of it is an artwork based on the religious story
of Kali and Shiva. It was written above, ‘A present with greetings from A.H.Zahar’
and below ‘Kali cigarette’, ‘Genuinely local’ etc. People used to collect these and
decorate their house or workplace with them attracted by their inherent aesthetic
quality. Following the convention of giving importance to artwork (it could be based
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on gods and goddesses, sages or religious/mythical stories), wall calendars were
printed with days and dates below the pictures, or sometimes with dates and the name
of the organization on separate paper and later attaching it to the artwork. This kind of
one page wall calendar was very popular in Bangladesh even a few years ago and the
trend is not extinct yet.
During the Pakistani regime, local calendars featured flowers, plant-life or
landscapes, other than the trend mentioned above. It can be said that after liberation,
there was a significant change in calendar design, especially exemplified by the trend
of calendar design using artworks of several artists which began in the first half of the
70s. The calendar of BTC (1972-73) based on Nitun Kundu’s painting or the 12-page
calendar published by BTC in 1974 on the theme of the War of Liberation featured
works of Quamrul Hassan, Aminul Islam, Kazi Abdul Baset, Qayyum Chowdhury
and others. Besides these, BTC published calendars with paintings of artists on
several other occasions. Philips, Singer, United Insurance, Sonali Bank, Uttara Bank
and other organizations published calendars with paintings or theme-based paintings
by artists.
Several calendars were published in Bangladesh on subjects like archaeological and
historical sites, birds, handicrafts, boats etc. Drawings and photographs were also used
in these subject-specific calendars. Calendars were designed using portraits of
prominent sages. Until now, the trend of calendar design with gods and goddesses,
great people or religious themes exists. This kind of calendar is more popular in rural
areas and small towns. The use of the model in the advertising industry had its
influence on calendar design as well. Around the 80s, photographs of models were used
in calendars. The presence of female models is comparatively more prominent.
For publicizing social welfare causes, for example, contraceptive products, orsaline
etc. calendars were designed with photographs of products. The development of
printing technology and computer graphics made calendar design more attractive.
Other than wall calendars, every year a significant number of desk calendars are
published on behalf of several organizations. These desk calendars are designed
selecting subjects like photographs of landscapes, prints of paintings etc. In some of
these, we find the combination of intelligence and aesthetic sense.