Page 418 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

SECOND GENERATION ARTISTS 415

1960s can be marked as his preparatory period.
Some of his noteworthy paintings of this era
are My Sister (Oil painting, 1954), Pawnbroker
(Oil painting, 1956), Boat in Moonlight
(watercolor, 1956) (fig. 9.45), Village Maiden
(lithograph, 1957), Self-portrait (oil painting,
1959) The Bridge and the Cow (oil painting,
1960), Bottom (oil painting, 1961), The Sail
(oil painting, 1963), Twilight-1 (oil painting,
1965), Sunlight Between Trees (watercolor,
1967) etc. In a hostile state environment, he
tried to express himself in versatile ways
through these paintings and was absorbed in
experimentation in different themes, media and
-isms. This episode of his life as an artist is
distinguished by his attraction towards folk
culture and heritage, prominence of nature,
rivers and boats as subjects and in hints of
Impressionism, Cubism and Abstract
Expressionism. Later the Liberation War of
1971 made a significant impact deep within his
being. In 1972, he got the opportunity to truly express himself and conveyed his hatred
for the enemies who had humiliated his motherland, and his grief, suffering and love
through his paintings (Protest, Bangladesh ’71(fig. 9.43), Independence, Martyr ’71,
Dead Fisherman, Burnt Village etc.). However, the dreamlike optimistic period of the
country did not last for long; and in another crisis (1976-77), the artist became
absorbed in his childhood nostalgia. In this phase, he produced ten oil paintings, titled
Childhood Memories, where he aspired to overcome the torments of contemporary life
by taking refuge in memories of village communities. Because of this nostalgia, the

fig. 9.44 (top) Gypsies,
oil on canvas, 1999
fig. 9.45 (bottom) Boat
in Moonlight,
watercolor, 1956