Page 307 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

304 ART AND CRAFTS

practiced art which inspired contemporary consciousness among young artists, art
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lovers and art theorists of that region to speed up the process of planned progress. Due
to Karachi being the capital, their process began to advance swiftly and since it was
the residence of the famous art theorists of the subcontinent like Shahed Suhrawardy,
that region began to grow into the centre of art practice in entire Pakistan. To the
renowned young artist Zainul who had come from Kolkata the ‘best education
institution for the arts’ in the Indian subcontinent this certainly did not seem to be an
acceptable reflection of the Pakistan of his hopes. Therefore, in this situation it was
quite natural that Zainul, who had taken upon his shoulders the basic responsibility of
the development of the arts in East Pakistan, remained more active trying to solve
various problems and extract more opportunities for himself, his colleagues and the
student artists. It was mainly due to this reason that though his process of painting
continued, until 1950 it did not express any noticeably new creative process. However,
under the Commonwealth Scholarship he received in 1951 he studied at the Slade
School of London and viewed museums and art exhibitions during the term of his
scholarship in various European countries, the experience of meeting various art
theorists etc. provided new inspiration for his artistic life. He became much more self-
confident specially due to the praise which included the remark ‘unprecedented’on the
integration of the styles of the east and west in Zainul’s work in the analytical articles
by renowned art critics of the west in the catalogue published on Zainul’s solo
exhibition held in Berkeley, England in the month of January 1952 (from 14 to 26
January). After returning to the country from Europe in 1952 he relied on that self-
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confidence and turned towards the folk tradition of Bengal to enrich his own works in
a completely different form. However, the changed political and cultural perspective
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of the then East Pakistan also played a distinct role behind his turning towards the
cultural heritage. It is due to the Language Movement which took place from 1948 to
1952 that the people of this region first started to consider their identity as Bengalis
more important than their religious identity. This new consciousness that arose in the
hearts of the general people easily pervaded the humanistic, patriotic and socially
conscious artist, Abedin. 87 Actually, we can see the clear expression of that
consciousness in the novel paintings close to the folk tradition of Bengal executed
from 1952 to 1954. These paintings simultaneously show the tendency of flat
application of some bright primary colors as well as the ornamental arrangement of
spontaneous lines similar to folk paintings. Moreover, when simplifying the figure an
effort to integrate the face and the rhythm of the elongated neck of the traditional
tepaputul (terracotta dolls of the ageless type) of Mymensingh is noticeable (pl. 8.5).
Thus, the works of Zainul of this stage appear to be formally quite different from his
other works. Yet, the subject selection and drawing technique also evidence the
individual characteristics of Zainul. In spite of being painted by using elements of folk
art, the female figure has not been presented as a symbol of fertility born of traditional
folk values, likewise, even though the postures and the sweetness of the female body
have been given importance, physical desire has not been encouraged. Rather, as in