Page 324 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

FIRST GENERATION ARTIST 321

comments of the critics or the above explanation by the artist. In some of the nudes
from this period desire and passion are a dominant factor and it invites a kind of
perversion which reflects the artists intimacy and honesty with his work. Perhaps it is
only natural that some suppressed desire was active in the artist’s subconscious mind
during this period of marital separation. However these examples are very few in
number. If these minor exceptions are excluded, we have to admit that the huge
amount of females drawn by him in four decades is a source of immeasurable beauty.
4.
a. One of the distinctive aspects of Quamrul Hassan’s art lies in the variety of media
he employed. He moved effortlessly from oil paintings and watercolor. Other than
these two media, he has produced many works in gouache and tempera and used
pastels and poster color. He used many techniques of printmaking as well. He
created numerous works in wood engravings, linocuts, etchings, serigraphs,
lithographs etc. Besides working in all these media, he also created sculptures.
b. Quamrul Hassan can be called the pioneer of commercial art in this country.
Although the artists before him such as Kazi Abul Kasem and Zainul Abedin
designed covers of books and illustrated periodicals, starting at the end of the
40s, only Quamrul Hassan created a huge amount of commercial art and acquired
great skill in this field. He also institutionalized commercial art. He was a teacher
of the Graphic Design department in the Fine Arts Institute. Although he was
involved in commercial work, there was no commercialism in his taste.
Quamrul used drawings, motifs and colors relevant to the subject matter in
graphic works such as illustrations and decoration of books and newspapers. As
a result, his commercial art too gained significance. Even the calligraphy done
by him bears his signature of beauty. It was Quamrul Hassan who first
established the concept in Bangladesh that alongside painting, the art of cover
design and illustration is also important as a different medium where the
graphical quality takes precedence.
c. Another significant aspect of Quamrul Hassan’s creative talent is revealed in his
note books. Between the period of May 8, 1977 and February 1, 1988 he has
regularly written his diary in 42 note books. These chronicles contain not only a
description and analysis of contemporary events, but also an evaluation of his
acquaintances. Many unexpressed boundaries of his private emotions are also
revealed in these records. The standard of these writings and there historical value
are definitely considerable. However, each page of these diaries is significant as
a testimony of the artist’s sense of beauty. His beautiful handwriting is further
embellished with the use of multi-colored ink. Other than that, he decorated each
page with various drawings and designs and thus each section has become a piece
of art. The designs consist of vines and flowers or motifs derived from these. In
the middle of the writings and at the sides outlines, drawings of female faces and
animals in various movements are utilized. The writing is not always of the same