Shilpacharya's birth anniversary celebrated in Mymensingh

Marking the 103rd birth anniversary of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin, seven-day programmes were held in the town Friday afternoon.

Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Sangrahashala (art gallery) organised a discussion at its auditorium. The celebration also included a seven-day painting exhibition by the children of Zainul Charupith, folk-fair and cultural programmes.

Famous artist Prof. Hashem Khan, chairman of Bangladesh National Museum Board of Trustees attended the programme as chief guest.

Architect and art critic Md Rabiul Husain, member of Bangladesh National Museum Board of Trusties; Prof Afzal Rahman, head of Bengali Department of Netrakona Govt College; eminent photographer MA Taher and Nihar Ranjan Das, deputy general manager of BSCIC were special guests.

Additional deputy commissioner (Education and ICT) of Mymensingh Sheikh Mohammad Belayet Hossain presided over the event.

The art gallery also organised an art competition for the children on December 22 marking the occasion.

Children of different educational institutions of Mymensingh town and its outside took part in an art competition. Some 130 children from first to tenth grade participated in the competition in four groups.

The subjects of the competition included “Portrait of Shilpacharya”, “Winter Morning”, “War of Liberation” and “Open Choice”.

Mukul Datta, deputy keeper of the art gallery inaugurated the competition. Mohammad Abdur Rouf, principal of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Fine Arts Institute; and artistes-Badal Chakraborty, Kamruzzaman Swapon, Neel Komol and Habibur Rahman were present on the occasion.

The guests distributed prizes among the winners of art competition and certificates among all the participants.

Zainul, one of Bangladeshi art's father figures, was born in Mymensingh on December 29 in 1914. He studied at Mritunjoy School in Mymensingh and at Government School of Art in Kolkata and graduated with a first class degree in 1938. After graduation he joined the same institution as a teacher.

Since his boyhood, Zainul was more interested in drawing than studies and was greatly inspired by the river Old Brahmaputra and its surrounding countryside that was later reflected in a series of his watercolor drawings, paying earnest devotion to the river.

The sketches on Bengal famine of the 1940s are probably his most characteristic work. He is referred with honour as Shilpacharya (Great Teacher of the Arts) in Bangladesh for his artistic and visionary qualities.