Page 380 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

SECOND GENERATION ARTISTS 377

Dhaka. His drawing teacher in this school inspired him to draw. But the artistic
ornamentation in the mosques in old Dhaka by the traditional masons was more
inspiring for him than the conventional methods of drawing at school. The indigenous
tradition of making murals using pieces of broken China plates by the artisans at that
time deeply influenced Aminul as a child. In his memoirs Aminul said, ‘At that time,
a special incident drew me towards paintings, an attraction which is still present. …
Two elderly ostagars (master artisans) worked for months on ornamentations by
cutting the pieces of China to required sizes and executed creepers-leaves, flowers
etc.’ 24 [Trans.] Later Aminul got admission in Armanitola School. Here his
encouraging drawing teacher was Saratchandra Chakraborty.
Aminul enlightened himself by reading books and magazines as a member of Patuatuli
library. The magazines that greatly influenced many in this country to become artists
did the same to Aminul. Prabasi, Bichitra, Bharatbarsha, Basumati, Mohammadi and
such magazines used to publish paintings of local and international artists. Aminul saw
the works of the master artist of the east, Abanindranath Tagore and of Renaissance
master Raphael in these magazines.
Aminul went to Kolkata for the first time in 1944 with a passionate desire to become
an artist. Later, he went to Kolkata a few more times and saw exhibitions of famous
artists of the Bengal School. He successfully passed the admission test in Kolkata
Government Art School in 1947. However, by this time, it became evident that the
subcontinent would be divided into two parts. In these changing times, Aminul came
back to East Bengal with Zainul Abedin.
The Government Institute of Art was founded in Dhaka in 1948. The classes started in
the same year. Aminul was a meritorious student of the first batch in this Institute. This
Institute was modeled after the Art School of Kolkata. Mainly western type of art was
taught in this Institute. Perspective, the distribution of light and shade in the mimetic
representation of objects, anatomy etc. were taught here in the academic method.
However, the education in this art school of Dhaka was not confined to the naturalistic fig. 9.15 Musical
art of the west. There were many reasons for this. Zainul was the idol for the young Performance at Night,
artists at that time. Academic realism of the west was not directly followed in the watercolor, 1951
works of Zainul. His works reflected a
combination of the use of lines from the
east and the artistic methods of the west.
And not only nature, but also the lives of
the working class were the prime subject of
his work. He also asked his students of the
Institute of Fine Art, Dhaka to visit various
communities and portray the lives of the
people in different professions. Zainul’s
comrades Quamrul Hassan, Anwarul Huq
and others also inspired the students to
depict the lives of the working class in