Page 348 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

FIRST GENERATION ARTIST 345

Primarily the lines used to delineate
the human and animal forms are
outstanding in their original qualities.
Regarding Sultan’s use of lines art
critic Abul Mansur wrote:
“These lines are broken and curved, they are
not soft and continuous. Though they were not
truly realistic, they carry the marks of
institutional training. These lines are not as
close to academic lines like those of Zainul
Abedin, they are not like the traditional courtly
lines drawn by Nandalal, not even folk-based
lines drawn by Jamini Roy or Quamrul Hassan.
Rather they may be said to be close to
something like urban ‘naïve’ art; the kind we
see in our Rikshaw paintings.” 141
Many may not agree with this
comment by Abul Mansur.
Nevertheless, none can deny the
distinctive characteristics existing in
Sultan’s lines. Moreover, Sultan’s
application of color also has noticeable
distinction and originality; these may be due to his use of indigenous color or jute as
canvas. It may be noted that during the 70s and the following phase Sultan almost did fig. 8.27 Peasants
not use thick color on his paintings. Rather he gave much more importance to lines. Working, oil, 1975
His use of lines became important not only in his paintings in oil but also in his
watercolors.
Sultan’s art works also bear distinctive characteristics in his choice of color. Many
now know that at one time Sultan experimented with herbal materials and local earth
colors. Use of self-made color in paintings definitely bears some marks of distinction
and the greatness of dedication in the process. However, the main problem is how long
they will tolerate the ravages of the weather of this land.
The most prominent color observable in Sultans’s paintings, is brown. Sultan used
brown unhesitatingly in painting human figures, ploughed land or thatched huts.
Sultan himself said, ‘I think the most dominating Bengali color is brown. Our skin
color, our houses and the color of our soil is all brown. Thus the color brown is
prominent in my paintings.’ 142 Of course, he painted nature in various bright colors.
Many are of the opinion that from the stylistic point of view and in selecting color
Sultan’s works have similarity with Van Gogh or Paul Gauguin. Some have mentioned
that in painting nature he has affinities with urban Rickshaw paintings. It is known
from Sultan’s own statement the he liked the works of Vincent Van Gogh, Claude
Monet, Jean Francoise Millet, Constable, and others. Specially, he often mentioned
Van Gogh’s painting entitled Potato Eaters. 143