Page 62 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

PAINTING 59

successful in the most recent techniques and trends of art.
Despite attaining the technical skills of printmaking, Mahmudul
Haque was more focused on developing himself as an oil painter.
From the very beginning he had the aspiration to represent the
two-dimensional quality of the pictorial plane and though there
were indications of human forms at the very primary stage, he
was quick to engage in abstract compositions. Even when he
wished to create compositions that resembled visual objects in
printmaking he chose the form of inorganic rocks rather than
human or animal forms, where he can give the form an image
according to his own wishes. Mahmudul Haque very gradually
passed through the various stages of abstraction. In his early
artworks in this style, we can see that he has divided the pictorial
surface through large flat sections of colors, sometimes in a
somewhat geometric arrangement, yet most of the time through
spontaneous strokes of a thick brush. Later on, small scratches,
decoration, and textures were included in this. Subsequently, he
gradually progressed towards removing the distinct boundaries
of geometry and colors from the background and creating an
obscure atmosphere of colors that are lost within one another.
The color of the background is now melting and blended into one
another, like rain washed nature. On this obscure background he creates a hint of
forms and shapes through a variety of scratches and scribbles. Mahmudul Haque’s
colors are soft and delicate, the prominence of blue and green giving the impression
of proximity to nature (fig. 1.34).
Shahabuddin finished his education in Dhaka during the seventies and then went to
France for advanced training in painting. Later he permanently settled in Paris.
Shahabuddin’s noteworthy skills and strength in the oil painting medium was evident
at a young age. Even before going abroad when he just finished art education in Dhaka,
his intense realistic
paintings caught the eyes
of art connoisseurs.
Though the opportunity of
western education fig. 1.33 Kalidas
familiarized him with the Karmakar, Inner Eye,
most modern trends of art, wood block and mixed
his preference never media, 1995
deviated from realism and
from human subjects. The fig. 1.34 Mahmudul
endless possibilities of the Haque, The Blue
Interior, oil on canvas,
human body captivated 2001