Zainul Abedin was a famous Bangladeshi painter. His painting concept made him different in his contemporary art. He was not only a painter to address the aesthetic part of the painting; rather he drew the real life scenario of common people and their different cultural aspects. During the devastating Bengal famine in 1943 in British India, he lived in Kolkata. Zainul was deeply hurt by seeing the starving people lying on the street, crying babies without food, skeletal figures of hungry people dying without notice. It was estimation, about 2.1 to 3 million people died in the Bengal region for starving, malaria and other reasons. Zainul drew a series of paintings to draw the attention of the world to do something for these unfortunate people. And the message of the famine through his painting could shake the emotions of world conscience. Zainul thus played a role of sound-rebel against the ethics of the royal society of British India. For this kind of activity, The Indian Express described Zainul as a legendary Bangladeshi painter and activist.
Zainul Abedin was the introducer of modern art in Bangladesh. That’s why he had to go against the traditional wind of the art theme. But he could establish his concept, the aesthetic view of his art by his emotion- based talents. He continued to reform the art and culture of the society with his boundless passion and creativity. To retain the changes in art he felt to establish an institution where modern art and artists would be generated and would carry on the trend of art and culture of the society. He organized the institute of Arts and Crafts, now it is Faculty of Fine Arts under University of Dhaka. Zainul Abedin was the founder chairman of the institute. For his artistic and visionary attributes Zainul was given the title “Shilpacharya”, the meaning “Great teacher of arts”.
Early Life of Zainul Abedin
Zainul Abedin was born in a Muslim family on 29 December 1914 in Kishoreganj, Mymensingh. Zainul’s father Tamizuddin Ahmed was a sub-inspector of the police and mother Joynabunnessa was a housewife.
Zainul grew up with a simple lifestyle with the close touch of nature and people on the bank of the river Brahmaputra. He enjoyed the view of the nature around him and was inspired to paint the beautiful scenes in his heart. Once he escaped home at the age of 16 and went to Kolkata with his friends to see the arts at the Govt. School of Art in Kolkata. Later, Zainul expressed his intention to his mother to study in an art school in Kolkata. His mother was almost bound to send his son to get admitted in the school. Since Zainul’s family was not financially ready to fulfill the admission fees at that time, his mother managed it by selling his ornaments.
Education & Career of Zainul Abedin
At the age of 19, Zainul Abedin got admitted to his dream school in 1933.
He completed his graduation successfully in 1938. During his final year he attended in All India Art Exhibition. He was awarded the Governor’s Gold Medal for his outstanding landscape painting works that preserved the sketches in his mind in childhood.
Zainul Abedin started teaching at the same art school from where he completed his graduation. He was the first Muslim student to obtain first class with a distinction from the school. He was a vital member of the Calcutta Group of progressive artists.Later he settled in Dhaka after the partition of India in 1948. He established a Govt. School of Arts and Crafts in Dhaka in the same year and initially commenced the school with 18 students. He was the Founder Chairman of the institute and taught the students to develop the modern concepts of art. That school has now become the Faculty of Art under the University of Dhaka.Zainul Abedin received a Commonwealth Fellowship in 1951 to study at Slade School of Fine Arts, London. During his study in London he held two solo exhibitions: one is under the Royal India, Pakistan and Ceylon Society at Imperial Institute, second one was supported by the Pakistan High Commission, held at William Ohly’s Berkeley Galleries in London in 1952. These exhibitions were mostly featured with the Bengal Famine in 1943. Other sketches were about everyday life in East Pakistan, such as, Homeward Bound, The Floating Market, Boatrace, After Fishing.
During his stay in London Zainul Abedin also studied pottery and textile design. At that time he gathered the ideas for the development of the Dhaka Institute of Arts.Zainul Abedin represented Pakistan at the UNESCO International Conference of Artists in Venice in December 1952.In 1953, after leaving the UK, Zainul Abedin held an exhibition in Lahore, Pakistan. By this exhibition he started promotion of contemporary Pakistani (East Pakistan) art.Zainul Abedin participated in a retrospective exhibition held at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, in 1957 during his travel to the USA, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Japan on a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship.
After visiting the Soviet Union in 1960 Zainul Abedin returned to Dhaka. But He continued to travel across South East Asia making paintings and drawings of minority people. He painted Santhal people and other native ethnic groups in India and Bangladesh.In 1970, after getting an invitation from the Arab League, he spent most of the time sketching Palestinian guerrilla fighters and refugees in Syria and Jordan.
The great artist painted the Bhola Cyclone in 1970, hundreds of thousands of people who died in East Pakistan. The ‘Monpura’ 30 feet scroll painting is portraying the effect of that deadly cyclone.
The 65 feet scroll painting ‘Nabanna’ (in Chinese ink, watercolor and wax) that he drew in celebration of the 1969 mass movement.Zainul Abedin was directly involved with the liberation movements and the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. Zainul formed Charu O Karu Shilpi Sangram Parishad who collected a large number of traditional crafts, ceramic works, nakshi kanthas and other folk arts in his lifetime. After that with the support of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujubar Rahman he preserved it through founding the Folk Art Museum at Sonargaon, Narayanganj in March 1975. He also founded the Zainul Abedin Sangrahashala at the Shaheeb Quarter Park on the bank of Brahmaputra River in Mymensingh. It is a gallery of his paintings.
Personal Life of Zainul Abedin
Full Name: Zainul Abedin
Father: Tamizuddin Ahmed, Sub-Inspector Police
Mother: Joynabunnessa, Housewife
Religion: Islam
Date of Birth: December 29, 1914
Birth Place: Kendua, Kishoregonj, Mymenshingh, Bangladesh
Died: May 28, 1976 (aged 61)
Death Place: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Buried Place: Beside Central Mosque of University of Dhaka
Education: 1. Graduation from Kolkata Government Art School, India
- Slade School of Art in London for two-year training
Spouse – Jahanara Abedin
Married Life: 1946 – 1976 (30 years)
Children: 1. Sarwar Abedin 2. Khairul Abedin 3. Mainul Abedin
Known For: Painting and Drawing
Notable Paintings:
The Struggle
Rebel Cow
Famine Paintings
Nobanno
Study of a Cow
Two Faces
Awards: Pride of Performance (1958), Pakistan Govt.
Doctorate of Letters (1974), University of Delhi
National Professor of Bangladesh (1974), Bangladesh Govt.
Independence Award (1977), Bangladesh Govt.
Legacy
In 2009, an impact crater discovered on Mercury was named “Zabedin” in tribute to his life and great works. NASA Spacecraft MESSENGER’s Principal Investigator Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, spoke to American media in 2009. “It is highly appropriate that the naming of such features similarly acknowledges the contributions that individuals from all cultures have made to mankind’s advances.”
Zainul Abedin crater is a matter of pride for every Bangladeshi across the world. It is also a matter of pride for Bangladesh that currently there are no public UK institutions holding painting works by Zainul Abedin. His art is represented in the Bangladesh National Museum. Academy of Fine Arts Calcutta is holding his art work among others.
His birthday is celebrated in Bangladesh, with a festival in University of Dhaka and children’s art competition in Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Sangrahashala (art gallery).
In December 2014, various socio-cultural organizations of Bangladesh arranged his birth centenary programs throughout the country. Google celebrated his 105th birthday with a Google Doodle on 29 December 2019.
An academic building of the University of Rajshahi has recently been named after Zainul Abedin that has become the fine arts faculty.
Zainul’s sketch was auctioned at the world’s most prestigious auction house Bonhams at London. Zainul Abedin Museum in Mymensingh, Bangladesh is dedicated to his work.
A direct student of Zainul Abedin, Hashem Khan, a renowned artist once shared with the media, “Apart from being an extraordinary painter, Abedin sir was an exceptional human being. He had the power of connecting with people and inspiring them with his words of wisdom.”
Artist Hashem Khan dedicated his books, “Zainul Golpo”, “Zainul Abediner Sharajibon” and “Manush Zainul Abedin Shilpi Zainul Abedin”, to the next generation to know about the nation’s legend painter and hold his legacy.
Final Words
Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin is the Bangladeshi legend artist who has played the most important role in developing modern art in Bangladesh. That’s why the nation has given him the highest honor as the founding father of Bangladeshi modern art. He was not only a painter with color and canvas; he was a social reformer through his art and paintings. He was a good human being. He always fought for the poor, affected and marginal people. He was a patriot. He could shape up his life with western art and culture. But he did not do it. His inborn love with the nature, people and culture of his motherland, the endless bonding with his own country, he could not leave it until his last breath of life. Zainul could prove by his lifestyle and works: if someone is honest and truly loves his work, can go beyond his time without being expensive but with the love and respect of the people.