Page 342 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

FIRST GENERATION ARTIST 339

of tribal people. He was greatly attracted by their industrious life and the natural
beauty of Kashmir. He started painting these people. In Kashmir he attracted the
attention of a Canadian woman named Mrs. Hurdson. It was due to her initiative that
Sultan had his first exhibition in Simla in 1946. During the partition of India in 1947,
Sultan came to Lahore. There, he became closely associated with Abdur Rahaman
Chughtai, Nagi, Shaker Ali, Sheikh Ahmed, Sadequain and others. He had painting
exhibitions in Lahore and Karachi in 1948 and 1949.
Sultan visited America in 1950 as a representative of Pakistan under an education
exchange programme. Thirteen solo exhibitions of Sultan were held in America
including the Institute of International Education (New York), Boston, Washington
D.C, Chicago, Michigan University. In the same year Sultan secured first position in
a drawing competition held at the Brooklyn Institute of Art under the New York
Exchange Programme where artists from 45 countries participated. He came to
London from USA. There in Leister Gallery his paintings were exhibited in a group
exhibition along with world famous artists such as Pablo Picasso (1881-1973),
George Braque (1882-1963), Henri Matisse (1889-1954), Salvador Dali (1904-
1989). It is heard that Sultan is the first artist from Asia to achieve this rare honour.
Having visited Europe and America he came to Karachi first and then to Dhaka.
However, he could not settle down. In 1953, he returned to Narail, to his roots. Thus,
a new chapter of his life began.
After he returned to his own village in Narail, for a long period of about twenty two
years from 1954 to 1975 he almost hardly painted. During this period, he became
attracted to spiritualism. He developed cordial relationships with the local Nama
Shudra (lower caste Hindus) and his addiction to narcotics continued. He roamed
around the south-western part of Bengal along with Kirtania groups or dressed as
Radha. Many tales, myths and legends about the long haired Sultan with flute in
hands, wearing sari-bangle-anklet with bells spread through Jessore, Khulna and
Kushtia areas. Eventually, he became a living legend.
It is not quite true that during this period (1953 to 1975), Sultan was totally separated
from painting. During 1953 to 1954, his art works were exhibited, though in small
scale, at the Narail Victoria College. 124 In 1956-57, inspired by poet Jasimuddin and
with the patronization of Afzal Karim, Sultan did a number of paintings in Dhaka.
Even in 1969, an exhibition of his paintings was arranged at Khulna Club. 125
In 1974 Sultan painted a mural for a 90 foot high tower on the occasion of an
exhibition of agriculture, education, industry and culture in Narail. But it was through
the first National Fine Arts Exhibition organised by the Bangladesh Shilpakala
Academy in 1975 that S. M. Sultan appeared as an artist in the elite society of Dhaka.
Next year, in 1976, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy organised a solo painting
exhibition of Sultan. Through this exhibition Sultan, for the first time, was introduced
and discussed as an artist by the people of this country.
Another notable exhibition of Sultan was held in 1987 at the Goethe Institute (German
Cultural Centre) in Dhaka. His last exhibition was held at the Gallery Tone in 1994.