Page 388 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

SECOND GENERATION ARTISTS 385

forms with meaning, she had to understand the truth beyond the
surface. The mazars too, perhaps, appealed to her as the embodiment
of the spiritualism of the people of East Bengal. Sufism has given
Bengal its unique blend of Islam with ancient traditions. Her interest
in the spiritual also finds form in the series of sculptures entitled
Peace based on the form of the seated Buddha. These pieces were
created after her travels to Yangon, Myanmar.
This phase of her work from 1956 to 1960 shows us Novera at her
most productive, as known to us. In 1957, Novera Ahmed and
Hamidur Rahman had a joint exhibition in the then Central Public
Library. In 1960, Novera’a exhibition in Dhaka was the first
exhibition of sculptures in East Bengal. Apparently, ‘By presenting
her work at this exhibition - a colossal collection of some 75 pieces
out of over a hundred sculptures - Novera has, in fact, come out of
her self-imposed isolation which, but for her few public
commissions in Dacca, has continued for nearly four years.’ 38
This phase of Novera’s work may be drawn up into two different
categories – perhaps they may not all be executed at the same time
but for the lack of date we must of necessity lump them together. The
more formal sculptures meant to be situated in public, open-air
spaces, generally adopted group compositions such as the family, the
family with its domestic animal, namely the necessary adjutant to the Bengali peasant fig. 9.22 The Long Wait,
family, the cow. These themes were impersonal, recognizable and ‘safe’ as anybody photograph Amirul
could identify them and find them meaningful. This belongs to one category. This group Rajib, courtesy
also shows the influence of Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and the other Vitalists in Drishwakarma
the simplification of forms and the introduction of hollows in forms for the interplay of
light and shade, space and form. Her sculpture entitled Cow with Two Figures designed
and executed in 1958 for the lawn of an industrialist in Tejgaon is an example of this
phase. In fact, this sculpture is the first modern outdoor sculpture of the city of Dhaka.
This sculpture was preserved by the Bangladesh National Museum in its lawn when the
original building was destroyed.
Another type of Novera’s sculptures done during this same time is the less formal type.
These were designed for indoors, thus formally they are less concerned with the high
contrast of outdoor lighting. These are normally less complex in outline, more rounded,
less linear and more expressive and personal. The Long Wait, mother with two children
clutched to her bosom, and others are examples of this type (fig. 9.22, pl. 2.12). Here
the forms are very simple, drawn from folk art and less consciously built on western
types. Meant to be seen up close, details and expressions are given importance here.
Surfaces are not finished to smoothness as in the outdoor pieces, the obvious reason for
this was that they would be less threatened by erosion or the growth of moss and fungi.
In these pieces, we often see women in situations which seem far from happy or as
struggling against adversities.