The Crime Desk: The 110th birthday of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin, the pioneer of modern painting in the country, is today, Sunday. This famous Bengali painter of the 20th century was born on December 29, 1914, in Kendua, Kishoreganj district of Greater Mymensingh. Keeping the day in mind, a three-day Zainul festival is underway at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Dhaka University (DU). In addition, various socio-cultural organizations will hold various programs today.
Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin, a rare talent who is the guide of the practice and movement of fine arts in Bangladesh, was born to his father, Tamizuddin Ahmed, and his mother, Joynabunnesa. He had a strong inclination towards painting since childhood. He used to depict various subjects, including flowers, fruits, trees, vines, fish, and birds, on canvas with the help of colored pencils. And it was because of this desire to paint that he ran away from home in 1933 and took refuge in Kolkata without appearing in the secondary examination. There he was admitted to the Government School of Arts. He continued his artistic education here until 1938.
In 1938, he graduated first in the first class from the Department of Drawing and Painting. By that time, he had also gained recognition from art lovers as an artist. Then he moved to Dhaka. The fine arts medium of this country developed under the hands of Zainul Abedin. In 1948, he established the Dhaka Art College (now the Faculty of Fine Arts of Dhaka University). He served as the principal of this institution until 1967.
In 1975, under the inspiration of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, he established the Folk and Crafts Foundation in Sonargaon, Narayanganj. In 1972, he was elected president of the Bangla Academy. In 1974, he was appointed the first national professor of Bangladesh and held this position until his death.
Zainul Abedin drew a diagram of the famine of 1943. In 1969, the backdrop of the mass uprising emerged on his canvas. In 1970, he painted the famous 65-foot-long painting Nabanna. In the same year, he created a heartwarming painting of the devastating cyclone called Manpura. These timeless works of art by the artist have received widespread praise and recognition across the country and internationally. Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin died on May 28, 1976, at the age of 61, after suffering from cancer.
