Page 386 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

d. Novera Ahmed
Lala Rukh Selim

Novera Ahmed was born in 1930 in Kolkata. Although we learn from Jalal Uddin
Ahmed that she was born in Chittagong in 1935. Novera was a gifted child and her
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parents encouraged her by giving her a good schooling as well as singing and dancing
lessons. She completed her matriculation from the Loretto School of Kolkata. After
partition in 1947 Novera’s family moved to Comilla where her father was transferred.
Novera studied there at the Victoria College. Perhaps her childhood exposure to
sculpture in Kolkata, once the capital of British India, may have caused her to engage
in the idea of learning sculpture. There was, of course, the ever-present traditional
sculpture of India in folk and classic form. In addition, Novera’s mother had a hobby
of modeling in clay, which could possibly have been an incentive for her conceiving of
sculpture to be a worthy subject of study. Whatever were the reasons for it, in 1950
Novera ended up in London enrolled to study sculpture at the Camberwell School of
Arts and Crafts. Her sister was then residing in London, which perhaps gave Novera
the courage to take up the challenge of entering the world of art and studying sculpture.
The outcome was that she ended up completing her National Diploma in Design in the
Modeling and Sculpture course in 1955. She had as her teacher the Chekoslovakian
Professor Dr. Karel Vogel. In Dr Vogel’s testimonial written for Novera upon the
completion of her course he wrote – ‘Her studies from life show a strong sense of
observation and certainly there is originality and depth of thought in her compositions.
Her portrait heads are full of life. Though in general working in the European way Miss
Ahmed’s sculptures show how indelible is the unconscious influence of eastern
monumentality and traditions. 30
In her student days, Novera further enriched her perspective of European sculpture
through her personal efforts and curiosity. She went to visit the Rodin Museum in
Paris during the Christmas vacations of 1950. 31 In 1954, she studied sculpture in
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Vienna. In 1955, she studied sculpture under Venturino Venturi in Florence for five fig. 9.20 Novera Ahmed
months. There she was acquainted with the works of the master sculptors of the
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Renaissance. She also worked for some time in the studio of Jacob Epstein.’ 34
In 1956, Novera decided to return to her homeland with her friend, the artist Hamidur
Rahman. With this, we see the end of the first phase of Novera’s sculptures which can
roughly be divided into three phases according to style, though it must be clarified at
this point that these three phases are discussed here in view of the very small amount
of sculptures we see, and information we have about Novera’s work.
The first phase of her work may be termed as her academic phase. This was when she
studied the methods and ideals of European art taught in the academies and also
studied the works of the master sculptors of Europe.
She herself was used to working in the academic method as S.M. Ali has pointed out,
‘In Europe, she has worked in clay direct from life, having her work cast in metal, and
had never turned to abstraction.’ 35