Page 281 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

278 ART AND CRAFTS

inclination for art developed. No other paintings are traceable except for the two
published in the Moslem Bharat. Both the paintings are landscapes. Syed Emdad Ali
writes that Meherbanu Khanam took painting lessons for six months. Meherbanu
26
would paint amidst the endless activities of the household.
Shukhalata Rao (1886-1969) was the eldest daughter of Upendrakishore Ray and
Bidhumukhi Devi. She got her training in painting from her father and painted scenes
and characters from the Puranas, Ramayana and Mahabharata. Her paintings were
published in Prabasi, Modern Review, Suprabhat, Sandesh, Chatterjee’s Picture
Album and other journals. 27
Hasina Khanam (1892-?) has been mentioned as the first Muslim woman artist in the
Charitabhidhan published by Bangla Academy. Some watercolors and sketches done
by her were published in Sawgat, Basumati etc. journals. Her place of birth and death
and the date of her expiry is unknown. 28
Protima Devi (1893-1969) was born in the home of her maternal uncles. Her father
was Sheshendrabhushan Chattapadhyay and mother Binoyini Devi. Her maternal
grandfather was Gunendranath Tagore. Gaganendranath, Samarendranath and
Abanindranath were her maternal uncles and Sunayani Devi was her aunt. She was
married to Rabindranath’s son Rathindranath and she later learnt painting at ‘Bichitra’
established by Rabindranath. She went on to train under Nandalal Bose. She was
dearly loved by the poet Rabindranath and traveled to many countries with him. As a
result, the concept she got about the international world of art played a particularly
fig. 7.11 Meher Banu significant role in her later life as an artist. She learnt fresco painting, ceramics and
Khanam seen painting batik in Paris. She had a show in London in 1935. However, she is given greater
surrounded by her importance for her contribution to Santiniketan than her work as an artist. She
children, Dilkhusha in designed stages for plays and costumes in her original style. She was particularly
the first decade of the proficient in producing characters for Rabindranath’s plays. She developed her artistic
20th century, after
Alokchitrey Sekaler personality through dance and music. Though her early paintings evidence Japanese
Dhaka, Bangladesh influence, later she painted in the style of the Bengal School. She took the illustrative
National Museum, mode of the Bengal School to its natural culmination (fig. 7.13). She continued her
(Dhaka 2003) individual experiments in applied art. According to Kishore Chatterjee she suppressed
her creativity as an illustrator due to her
devotion to Santiniketan. 29
Shanta Devi (1893-1984) was born in
Kolkata. Her father was Ramananda
Chatterjee editor of the journals Prabasi,
Modern Review and Bishal Bharat and her
mother was Monorama Devi. She began to
write and paint from her childhood due to
the family environment. She learnt
painting under Abanindranath and