Page 390 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

e. Rashid Choudhury
Nasima Haque Mitu

Rashid Choudhury was born on 1st April 1932 at Haroa under the then Faridpur
district (currently under Rajbari district) in a zamindar family. His father was Yusuf
Hossain and mother Shirin Nessa Choudhurani. They were nine brothers and four
sisters. His father was a lawyer by profession and was involved in politics. It is known
that he was interested in the arts.
Rashid Choudhury passed the matriculation examination in 1949 and was admitted to
the Art College (now Institute of Fine Art, Dhaka University). He passed the BFA
examination in 1954 getting first class. In 1956-57, he got a postgraduate scholarship
of the Spanish government and went to the Central Escula Des Bellias Artes De San
Fernando in Madrid to learn sculpture. He went abroad for higher studies for the
second time in 1960-64. This time he went to the Academy of Julian and Beaux Arts
in Paris under a French government scholarship. There he received higher education
in fresco, sculpture and tapestry.
Rashid Choudhury won the first prize in fresco medium in Beaux Arts Paris in 1961.
He was awarded the first prize in RCD biennale exhibition held in Iran in 1968. In
1977, he received Ekushey Padak (highest civilian award) from the government of
Bangladesh and he got Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Award in 1980. In 1986
Bangladesh Charushilpi Samsad gave him an honorary award.
Artist Rashid Choudhury died in Dhaka on 12 December 1986.
Subjects of works, probable sources of inspiration and analysis of works:
The creativity of Rashid Choudhury moved in a circle centering on his mental
structure. He took a simple element with which he could identify himself and then
presented it in magical form – in composition without logic, in the image of dreams
and in emotional colors. He had an irresistible attraction towards the myths of
Bengal, in superstitions (which have their base in the folk culture of Bengal) and in fig. 9.23
Rashid Choudhury
imaginary feelings.
He was a romantic and a person with a positive attitude towards life. Through the
many complexities in his brief existence in the world, he never lost interest in life. The
happiness derived from love was very important in the life that he led. In all his works
is established the vibrancy of moving life.
The familiar icons of myths and folktales of Bengal like Radha-Krishna, Durga,
Kali, elephant, horse, bird, snake, and tree (banyan and banana) were repeatedly seen
in the art works of Rashid Choudhury. The forms of folk art created the forms of the
formal art of Rashid Choudhury. He traveled from form to the formless and the
imageless, in quest for the image. From this sensation in his work one may enter to
seek the source of his work.