Faces of the legends
Gallery Shilparag holds portrait exhibition
Harun ur Rashid
Portraits were once a popular art form and received immense patronage from the rich and the élite. With the development of mainstream art, however, portraits have been greatly marginalised. Gallery Shilparag is holding an exhibition of this neglected form of painting, featuring both veteran and upcoming artists of the country. Such a large assortment of good portraits is surely a treat for spectators.Six young artists, Abdus Sattar Taufiqe, Abdul Mannan, Ali Imam, Shafin Omar, Shahjahan Ahmed Bikash and SM Saiful Islam--one or two of them already famous as good portrait makers--have participated in this exhibition. Along with them, the presence of portraits by well-known artists like Qayyum Chowdhury, Rafiqun Nabi, Hamiduzzaman Khan, Sheikh Afzal, Shishir Bhattacharjee and others has heightened the artistic quality of the display. Subjects of these portraits include both Bangladeshi and international figures along with some self-portraits. Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, artists Zainul Abedin, Quamrul Hassan, SM Sultan, Begum Rokeya, Sufia Kamal, Maolana Bahshani, Lalon Shah, Netaji Subhash Bose, Vivekananda and many other legendary personalities have been chosen as the subjects of these portraits. The painters have also picked contemporary faces like photojournalist Nasir Ali Mamun, cartoonist Shishir Bhattacharjee and young artist Ronnie Ahmed. Shahjahan Ahmed Bikash's huge canvas of BBC 2004 portrays 23 greatest Bangalee personalities. The piece has the magnanimity of these historical figures like Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Haque, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Basu and many others. Renowned sculptor Hamiduzzaman Khan's portrait of Lalon is an excellent work, while Rafiqun Nabi's self portrait presents the artist flanked by his remarkable character Tokaii. Alakesh Ghosh's portrait of Sheikh Hasina reveals the political leader's horror at the recent grenade attack on her. The portrait is a reproduction of the photograph published in most dailies recently. Qayyum Chowdhury's self portrait in watercolour depicts his unique style of using bold lines and bright colours. Nasim Ahmed Nadvi's portrait of Potua Quamrul Hassan will surely attract attention. Painted in oil, the portrait presents the artist's face in black and white. The glasses of his spectacles, however, have been coloured with red, yellow, green, violet and other colours, implying his colourful vision as an artist. The exhibition runs until October 15.
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(From left) Lalon, Hamiduzzaman Khan, Quamrul Hassan, Nasim Ahmed Nadvi and SM Sultan, Shahjahan Ahmed Bikash |
