Page 370 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

SECOND GENERATION ARTISTS 367

Library at the end of the 1950s. With a few natural
elements, he composed frescoes of fishermen and
fisherwomen on the lower wall of the library (fig. 9.5).
The frescoes are so highly raised from the surface that
you can easily feel the weight of sculpture in them.
This sculptural quality, of course, is absent in the work
titled Borak and Duldul on the western wall of the
periodicals section of the library. In this work the
geometry of straight lines divide the space to give
artistic refinement to the structural form of the horse.
On the other hand, a strong influence of the Cubic
style of art is noticeable in the fresco depicting the
fishing community.
In the mural the artist executed in tempera at Doyson
Club in Montreal, Canada the eternal image of
nature is represented with a romantic ambience in
simplified forms and vibrant coats of color. And in
the mural titled Bangladesh Riverscape at the
Commonwealth Institute of London the artist
painted the veiw of rivers and boats of eternal Bengal with layers of colors without fig. 9.6 Borsha-4, oil,
giving importance to the sculptural quality. Both these works were, of course, 1984
constructed in the mid-1970s. This was probably the time when the artist
remembered his country with a degree of nostalgic feeling.
Hamid’s art has graduated from the representational to metaphoric. The ever stirring
sense of commitment in his blood inspired him to paint 1952 and 1971. The War of
Liberation haunted him repeatedly. He painted humans lying at the mass execution
ground, the raped women, and also the victory procession. He wanted to create a heart-
rending gesture of 1971 with a few lines and soft clusters of colors in a graphic serenity.
Reaching the fag end of his life Hamidur Rahman turned romantic. He painted the
moon-struck profile of wide-eyed women in the bright blue water flooded by
moonlight (fig. 9.6). His paintings have all along been two-dimensional. By
complementing man and woman, he created the metaphor of love and empathy. In
love, man and woman merge into one body. Often symbols are added to Hamid’s
themes. Man and woman gazing in bewilderment holding fish in their hands.
Perhaps he discovered the symbol of love and fertility in woman. Somewhere a
primitive passion is active at the very depth of Hamid’s paintings. Some four years
before his death artist Hamidur Rahman drew the conclusion to the messages in
his paintings saying, ‘Who I am and which society I belong to is the most
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important consideration.’ [Trans.]
Translated by Madan Shahu, Senior Assistant Editor, The Daily Star, Dhaka