Page 401 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

398 ART AND CRAFTS

However, due to unfavorable circumstances, only after six
months he returned home at the end of 1958.
After coming back home from Europe Murtaja Baseer’s
lifestyle was bohemian and nomadic. This was when he
wandered about in different cities of the then Pakistan (Dhaka,
Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sargoda etc.) in search of a
livelihood and got to know many renowned creative artists,
litterateurs and organizers. This is the phase of his life when
he revealed himself as a creative litterateur and film
scriptwriter. In fact, this restless nomadic period was one of
the most important chapters of Murtaja Baseer’s life. It was
when his work showed an individual expression, which
gained prominence over the factual depiction of visual reality
and manifested a quest for a language of art, reflecting the
agony of the age. The outline used on the canvas did not
remain confined to constructing the shape of the object but
gradually gained an expressive and independent entity. Village
Scene and Girl with Red Blouse painted in 1962 may be
mentioned in this context.
After getting married in 1962, Murtaja Baseer’s lifestyle
entered a new chapter and changes entered his art practice. It
is as though life and the world appeared anew in a glow of
colors - with a different meaning. Isolation, frustration and
fig. 9.31 Waiting for bohemian philosophy were replaced by a sense of togetherness. It is said that in the
Tomorrow (2), oil, 1955 four months after marriage he produced about thirty paintings. This is when he began
using golden and silver colors in his paintings along with other colors.
In 1962, the Art Council of Pakistan arranged a solo exhibition of Murtaja Baseer in
Lahore. This exhibition marked his gradual liberation from the direct influence of
prominent artists. His new works were created in the light of a new experience of life.
This exhibition projected a completely different character from his exhibition held in
the same city about two years ago, ‘Change was clearly evident in the majority of the
works exhibited. Following his recent experience in life, joyful bright red, golden and
silver colors replaced the gloomy grey, tired diminished green and pale blue in his
paintings. Even the blue and green that symbolized gloom in his earlier works are now
vibrantly expressive with a different radiance. The earlier thin line drawn with palette
knife or thin brush has yielded to thick bold lines, which are almost geometric.
However, the tendency of experimentation is present as in his earlier works, which
does not escape observation. But this quest is not out of confusion or delusion, rather
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with considerable self-confidence and deep conviction.’ [Trans.]
After a few years’ gap there was held an exhibition of Murtaja Baseer’s famous Wall
series at Dhaka’s Press Club in March 1967 (fig. 9.32). In fact, this Wall series is an