Page 427 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

424 ART AND CRAFTS

of village Purbadi of Keraniganj. The book was titled Prabhachitra Ba Photography
Shiksha (published: Bengali year 1302). 30
Charuchandra Guha (1884-1957) was trained as an artist and worked as one in the
beginning of his professional life. He received training in photography from a
foreigner in Darjiling. He practiced photography in Dhaka from 1910 to 1917.
Trained in photography by scientist Jagadis Chandra Bose, Hemendra Mohan Bose
(1866-1916) improved many photographic techniques. During the Bangabhanga in
1905 he took photographs of numerous processions and meetings of the Swadeshi
movement. (fig. 10.2) Jadunath Mukherji (1880-1950) worked as a photographer at
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the office of Survey of India. In 1910 he set up a studio called ‘Mukherji Studio’ at
Boubazar of Kolkata. Parimal Goswami (1897-1976), who became famous for his
photographs of various artists and writers taken from 1920-1940, was born in Ratan
Dia of Faridpur. Among the photographs he took, those of Kazi Nazrul Islam and his
family are notable. Photographer Munshi Surat Ali (1870-1943) was born in Panch
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Bhai Lane of Dhaka. Photography was his hobby. His two sons Khorshed Ali and
Wajid Ali were also photographers. Examples of photographs taken by Surat Ali are
preserved in his family albums.
Golam Kashem Dady (1893-1998) was born in the district of Jalpaiguri in undivided
Bengal. After retiring from his service as a district registrar in 1949, he began to live
in Dhaka permanently. Besides writing on photography and providing leadership in
development of photography in Bangladesh, his contributions in the photography of
Bangladesh are varied. The establishment of ‘Tropical Institute of Photography’ in
Dhaka in 1951 and ‘Camera Recreation Club’ in 1962 are two of his important
fig. 10.1 Kazi Nazrul contributions to the photography of Bangladesh. 33
Islam, photograph Writer and politician Habibullah Bahar Chowdhury (1906-1966) is memorable for the
Habibullah Bahar
Chowdhury rare photographs he took of Kazi Nazrul Islam. He took these photographs when Nazrul
went to Chittagong in 1926. A portrait of Nazrul playing the flute
(fig.10.1) in a striking pose bears the mark of his skill. Habibullah
Bahar Chowdhury became the Health minister of East Bengal
province in 1947. The East Bengal branch of ‘Pakistan
Photographic Society’ was founded in Dhaka in 1948. Habibullah
was one of the protagonists. 34
W.A. Khan was a tailor in Kolkata at the beginning of his
professional life. He later learned photography and became the
personal photographer of A.K. Fazlul Huq, the chief minister of
undivided Bengal. He photographed all the political gatherings of
Muslim League and numerous politicians of this organization. After
that he joined as a photographer in the information office (centrally
regulated) of post-partition north-east Bengal.
Other than these photographers, the names of Matilal Nag, Abinash
Dhar, Saratchandra Sen, Ambikacharan and Fanindranath Dutta can