Page 278 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

WOMEN ARTISTS 275

do find a place in the world of art we find a sudden break of a few
years in their professional life. Perhaps they are busy rearing
children as mothers or trying to adjust to a new role in a new family
or keeping herself in the background to give preference to her
husband’s profession.
The first time we hear of a large number of women participating in
an art exhibition is in 1879 in the Fine Art Exhibition held in
Kolkata. Twenty five women participated in this show and most of
them were Bengali women. In 1939 women were provided the
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opportunity to enroll as students in the Calcutta Government Art
School and they took it with pleasure. Aparna Ray was a student of
the first batch of women and went on to become a teacher at the
same school. Yet we meet with women prior to the professional
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entrance of women in the field of art who had worked with the
materials and technique of professional artists and also expressed
their individual qualities in their work. Needless to say not be said
that they practiced art alongside their family activities. Perhaps that
is why there is distinctiveness in their work. Moreover, the women’s
art that was practiced so far was created for a different world and
had different objectives. Thus, the art of these women artists shows
the desire to find their own space within these contradictions. It must be remembered fig. 7.9 (bottom left)
that the entrance into this new field was for women almost like an act of trespassing Nakshi kantha, after
because it created an opportunity to encounter the public world outside the premises Abaran, Bangladesh
of the household. National Crafts Council,
The arrival of the British created a new self-realization and analytical vision that (Dhaka 2003)
changed the background of Bengali life. Perhaps a touch of this new wave inspired
women with new enthusiasm to take up the media and forms in which men had
expressed their creativity. It must, however, be mentioned here that this is the juncture
in time, that is the nineteenth century, when the visual art of Bengal became separated
from the previous hereditary family workshops and people from the upper classes
began to enter the arena of the arts. A new personality, the artist, appeared as a result
of the exhibitions, art organizations, art educational institutions and the writings on art
organized by the British. They were a different brand of people from the lower caste
chitrakar (painter), bhaskar (sculptor), kumar (potter), malakar (garland maker). They
were different from the common person, talented, educated and unique. They were
enlightened creators. It is as though women also rode this wave to enter the world of
mainstream art with the children of other well-born families. Yet men entered it
aspiring to be professional, major, famous and rich artists. Women entered it suddenly
as they saw the possibility of creating art in permanent media instead of sewing,
weaving, cooking or painting alpana. It was not in the hopes of professionalism,
wealth and fame because those doors were still closed to women. On the contrary, it