Page 332 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

FIRST GENERATION ARTIST 329

landscapes which are composed with the
combination of light and shade. The color
of these two paintings are strongly flat, the
edges or contours of the forms are marked
by lines, in executing the forms subjective
exaggeration has been resorted to rather
than attempting to remain faithful to
reality. In other words, the artist tried to
pictorially reconstruct the visual world in
his own way. As a result, from the very
beginning he abandoned light and shade,
which is an inseparable part of the
academic tradition. From this period his
pictures gradually start to move towards
abstraction. In 1958 he completed the
Diploma Course in printmaking from the
Central School of Arts and Crafts of
London with distinction. From 1956 to
1974 he visited different galleries of
England, France, Italy, Germany,
Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Soviet Union and India. From this variety of fig. 8.19 Threshing
experiences his pictures also began to change. For instance in A Book Stall in Paris Paddy, oil, 1952
painted in oil colors in 1960 we see the visual world has been transformed totally to a
geometric design of flat colors (pl. 8.17). Instead of details the design and composition
of colors integral to the scene have emerged on the ground of his picture. Even after
coming to East Pakistan nostalgic Safiuddin produced the romantic picture entitled By
Mayurakshi’s Side. Gradually in A Book Stall in Paris instead of romantic emotion
there appears compositions in pure colors and forms, the inspiration behind which is
the geometric pattern inherent to the book store. Stylistic changes are noticeable in his
drawings between the end of the ’50s to the end of the ’60s. It was probably the
Language Movement of ’52 which prepared the ground for the change. The people of
East Pakistan, the present Bangladesh, start to appear in the drawings of this period.
Boats and water borne life make their appearance. Safiuddin the man from dry lands
was faced with floods for the first time after coming to East Pakistan. For the first time
in his life he observed how the flood water entered the houses, how it submerged
dwellings and each and everything in a great deluge, and how like Noah the people of
the whole country floated on the vast expanse of water which extended to the horizon.
The impressions of this new experience started to show themselves in his prints. In the
intaglio prints Flood, The Bridge Across (fig. 8.22), Fishing Time, Composition, The
Receding Flood etc. he started to give expression to the experience of flood. The
romantic environment and the artistic beauty of fine engraving that we see in the