Today is the 100th birthday of internationally renowned painter Zainul Abedin, also known Shilpacharya, the guru of art.
Zainul Abedin, who was born in December 29 in 1914 and died on May 28 in 1976, got his breakthrough in 1944 with his paintings on the 1943 famine. Like many of his contemporaries, his paintings on the famine are his signature works.
In 1948, he helped found the Government Institute of Arts and Crafts (now the Institute of Fine Arts) in Dhaka, the first modern art institution in what was then East Bengal.
Not only promoting modern art, he worked tirelessly to encourage folk art in Bangladesh and founded the Folk Art Museum at Sonargaon, near Dhaka, in 1975.
An artist of exceptional talent and international repute, the Shilpacharya is considered the founding father of Bangladeshi art.
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy has organised a year-long programme to mark his birth centenary.
The year-long celebration, inaugurated on December 27,started with an art competition, in which hundreds of children from all over the country participated at the national art gallery plaza of the academy.
Other activities lined up for the celebrations programme include art competitions and exhibitions across the country, publication of a memorial book on the Shilpacharya, seminars on his life and works, launching of memorial postcards, organising traditional fairs, and installation of Shilpacharya’ssculpture on the academy premises.
Shilpacharya’s widow Zahanara Abedin inaugurated the celebration while Hasanul Haque Inu, minister for cultural affairs, Ranjit Kumar Biswas, secretary of the cultural affairs ministry affairs, Liaquat Ali Lucky, director general of BSA,were present at the programme.
Bengal Foundation has also chalked a year-long programme to celebrate the occasion which began in October this with the launching of a book titled Great Masters of Bangladesh: Zainul Abedin, a comprehensive publication exploring the creative evolution of the artist.
Yesterday, an art exhibition titled Shilpacharya and his Outer World of Art presenting artworks of the master artist and his family members was inaugurated.
