Page 37 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

34 ART AND CRAFTS

Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin is the father of modern practice of art in Bangladesh. His
drawings based on the famine of 1943 in Bengal gained him fame all over India and
as an immediate, compassionate and haunting representation of a pitiful human
tragedy, these caught the eyes of art enthusiasts in many parts of the world. After the
partition of 1947, he came to Dhaka and devoted himself to initiating a movement of
art practice and creating institutional facilities. The Government Institute of Art was
established in Dhaka in 1948, mainly due to his initiative. Relying on his highly
skilled adeptness in the European academic style, Zainul Abedin started his journey as
a romantic portrayer of rural natural scenes. However, the miserable and horrifying
face of the man-created famine of 1943 infused within him a rebellious and protesting
character which he retained in the later stages of his life. Prior to settling in Dhaka
permanently, the main theme of the art environment in which he dwelt followed the
European academic style. Although the decaying influence of the Bengal school was
still in effect, academic naturalism was still the fundamental principle in the ideas of
art centered in the Calcutta Art School. Thus, Zainul’s inclination towards this mimetic
naturalism was strongly active in him because of his training. Nevertheless, he was
able to realize the superficiality of this external naturalism. However, as an alternative,
the ornamental lines and literary subject matter of the Bengal school also did not win
his approval. Jamini Roy’s folk tradition based formulized style also did not win his
support. His talent in drawing lines in the European style was exceptional. Thus,
despite being disinclined towards the conventional European academic style, he made
use of these very lines gained from his training as his ‘sign’. He added movement,
force and emotion in his lines. In the realistic context, he avoided the technique of
putting layers of color in proportion to the degree of light and shadow to make the
scenes convincing and made the outline of objects more well-defined and distinct by
applying accentuated and deep lines, while he brought colors down to mere
suggestions. He transformed what started with mere dark lines of a paintbrush in the
famine sketches of 1943 into a style of his own through the minimal use of colors and
the proportionate use of space. His many well known pictures of later times, such as
The Rebel Cow, Leveling the Ploughed Field, Santhal Couple etc. are perfect
examples of this style. The opportunity of foreign training in the early fifties, the
language movement of fifty-two and contemporary events probably inspired him to
turn his gaze at the cultural traditions of his country. In the fifties and also later, Zainul
Abedin executed some paintings by arranging motifs of the folk style in geometric
compositions. Mother of Painya (pl. 1.12), Prasadhan, Pulling Boat etc. are notable
works in this style. To Zainul, struggling, brave, working people in natural
surroundings, insurmountable humankind fighting against a hostile environment, is
the ultimate and everlasting truth. Thus, Zainul’s artistic spirit is overwhelmed with
undiluted emotion at the degradation of humanity. He created the 65 feet long scroll
painting Nabanna in the context of the mass movement of sixty-nine. In a way that
characterizes him, he portrayed a comprehensive image of the ever-continuing