Page 403 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

400 ART AND CRAFTS

Epitaph for the Martyrs was arranged
at Shilpakala Academy. His works of
this period bears a kind of resemblance
to his Wall series, because here also the
source of creation is derived from
the real world (directly resembling
pebbles from his own collection).
However, in its pictorial language the
characteristic of the two dimensional
plane, the mood and emotions have
embarked on a journey towards
abstraction. ‘Murtaja Baseer’s last
notable work Epitaph for the Martyrs
is a series of paintings dedicated to the
anonymous martyrs of the War of
Liberation. Forms of various shapes
float on a white background, internal
shapes merging into each other in fine coats of various soft colors. Here the use of
60
shapes and colors is modest and graceful, texture is totally excluded.’ [Trans.]
The paintings of this series were executed during his stay in Paris in 1973 and after
he returned home. In 1979, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy organized a
retrospective show of 221 selected artworks of thirty years of Murtaja Baseer’s
artistic endeavors (1949-1979).
At the end of the 70s Murtaja Baseer was inspired by the tabiz (amulet), solemani
designs, geometric shapes used on jainamaz etc. religious motifs which is evidenced
in his series of paintings entitled The Light (1979). More than two decades later in
2002, he painted quite a number of pictures based on Islamic calligraphy entitled
Kalima Tayeba (fig. 9.34).
In 2002 Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy organized an exhibition of paintings by
Murtaja Baseer entitled Pakha O Anyanya (fig. 1.26). The Wing series painted from
1998-2002 is inspired by direct reality like the Wall and Epitaph for the Martyrs

fig. 9.33 (top) Martyr's
Tree, brick, cement and
stone, 1974

fig. 9.34 (bottom) The
Kalima Tayeba-II, oil on
canvas, 2002