Page 347 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

344 ART AND CRAFTS

the responsibility voluntarily upon himself to add the mantra of inspiration for the
primitive sons of the soil, the struggling people spewed from the earth living on their
labor. Sultan painted the same subjects repeatedly—the various details of rural life. In
this context one may cite his paintings entitled Fishing (1991) (fig 8.26), Rural Life
(1986), Plough (1992), Paddy Husking (1986), Village Noon (1987), Peasants
Working (1975) (fig. 8.27), Cutting Fish (1987), Harvesting Paddy (1992), Ploughing
(1987). He painted numerous paintings on the similar subjects and the same titles in
oil or watercolors.
Although Sultan had faith and commitment to rural life and its mode of agricultural
production dependant on the land, it does not seem like he was completely in accord
with it. He presented himself more as a mysterious character in the village context. As
a result, some people identified him as a saint, a madman, or a spiritual person.
Because of his unconventional life-style, many tales about his supernatural qualities
were circulated about him. Thus, some villagers would express a puzzled respect,
some would show careless annoyance, and some would even express wonder and
curiosity. But nobody could accept him completely as their own. As a result, he was
ultimately considered an outsider although he lived in the village. Thus, his
relationship with both rural and urban life was more or less dialectical. He remained
a little unaccepted in both spheres and his situation was merely marginal.
fig. 8.26 Fishing-3, oil, From this marginalized situation, Sultan tended towards a kind of idealism in creating
1991
his own art world. He built an
archetype moving away from reality.
Nevertheless, in this context, one may
question how successful he was in
portraying other subjects excepting the
human figures. For examples, Sultan’s
cows are truly Bangladeshi but their
success from the aesthetic point of view
is questionable. Even Sultan’s oft-
repeated rural background seems not to
have been given due attention. If one
takes away the human figures from his
canvas any of Sultan’s artworks loose
their importance to a great extent. In
our consideration, the main importance
and characteristic of Sultan’s works lie
in the figures of men and women; the
rest came as supplementary elements to
these figures.
Like many other great artists, lines are
particularly important to his paintings.