1 | B e n g a l a r t
Bengal art appreciation: Massive canopy over the obscure root or robust root beneath the silhouetted shelter.
Ar. Sayed Ahmed
Bangladesh University
Preamble
What is the norm to perceive human art history? Collingwood 1 (1946) prevail on the method of ‘bird’s eye view’ that might be easy, but not obvious to proclaim how human has introduced art in the ancient civilizations. Art of writing, along with the art of urban planning is considered as the coarse dividing margin of pre-historic and historic era. Let us consider the monotonous objective of cave art- hunting. These caves were just found in the 18 th century, why had man taken so long to discover those? Is it lack of our curiosity or the ancient painters who were too much introverted? Again, who were these painters? Probably, the priests who got the opportunity to utilize their so cherished ‘leisure’. Why did they draw these? May be, to predict the possible results of hunting, whether somebody may die or be wounded and may not find any prey today or find a huge one, so on. As they were the worshippers of natural powers-sun, moon, thunder and tide, etc. they also depicted those all. Here may be noted that these paintings were the first thought of aesthetics, out of their sophisticated world and basic necessities. Again, early art involves necessity, the necessity of protection and hunting- combined; the weapon. Toynbee 2 (1934 and 1954) described this as the theory of “challenge and response”. In this regard, the art was the solution to tackle the problems. Invention of fire brought a lot of blessings to ignite the development of art:
First the darkness of cave was fostered by the kindling of torches, depriving the ferocious animals; man can now live in the caves and manage a vast canvas to practice his art of painting.
Then man baked the meat on fire which helped to reshape his mandible and left enough option to increase his brain cells in a spacious skull as well as increase artistic intelligibility along with other skills.
1 ‘ The Idea of History’ best-known work of Oxford philosopher, R.G. Collingwood;
(1889- 1943) who saw history as ‘recollection’ of ‘thinking’ of historical personage.
2 From ‘A Study of History’ published in ten volumes between 1934 and 1954, basically a comparison of the historical patterns of twenty-six civilizations, Arnold
Toynbee (1889-1975) uses analogy as his main expository principle to synthesize conclusions he reached on the rise and decline of civilizations.

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 2
Fire let the human to become stable in the riversides and pregnant women started art on the soil, the agriculture. Domestication of animals brought their brush to paint.
Fire ignited the art of metals for hunting purpose, first copper; and then brass and after that, bronze (amalgam of tin and brass). These weapons were artifacts also.
Fire burns, fire lights; fire bakes, fire turns all into ashes. The positive and negative effects of fire lead to create religion. Sun, air, water and soil; all the natural elements are representative of supreme sprit, all of them have positive and negative impacts. If there is kindness, there should be cruelty also. The duality of nature- evil and good; the destination of soul- hell and heaven, is universal for all ages of mankind and depicted through symbolism.
Fire invented the art in the rituals of this religion- dance and music.
Religion also shaped the motifs and subjects of art and especially architecture. The Egyptians emphasized on afterlife, thus they built pyramids, while Mesopotamia gave importance to astrology thus erected
Ziggurat. To worship fire was an aristocrat religion of Aryans and
Zoroastrian temples designed after fire.
The primitive cave art shows fondness to brown colors also. Why we are not much interested about the food of blue colors rather than browns? There might have some sort of legacy to the psychic and historic evidences of human evolution. Food is eatable when burnt and this burning brings the color of brown. This color belongs to fire and we fear any sort of burning except the fried meat. This might be an explanation of their color choice, what they ate; they found the same color to paint!
But only painting cannot bear whole testimony of human artistic progress.
When does a society head toward progress? The answer is, when it invents the art of the writings. Then, when does the art of any civilization reach its culmination? The answer is, when the sculptors get involved. Again, why had man sculpted? Hypothesis supposes: a hungry man on the seashore drew a bison on wet sand by dint of bone or stick, and then became more optimistic to erect a figure of a bison from that drawing; this was the first attempt for sculpture. This extraordinary identity gave him the responsibility of a priest in that primitive society. This was an honor to create the artificial, as the word ‘art’ is derived from.

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In fact, hieroglyphic letters over the Egyptian hypostyle columns can be considered as carving sculptures for the initial stage of human sculpting history. The sunken and relief lines were the first conception of the three dimensional effect for earlier art. Positing important figures in large scale regardless of perspective and depicting any story from memory- they shown very eastern tendency of art.
3 Geometry comes first to depict a conception, likewise a child draw its father’s face more likely a square while mother is always circular.
Egypt gave pictorial expression in writing; Mesopotamia added lettering,
Greeks derived the golden equation and Indus valley planned the entire town, these are the basic foundation of human’s practice for art from paper to the earth surface. Now, why do we not find any ancient art over where in
Bengal?
Art of Bengal: Legacy within the mystery
In this fertile delta of Bengal, history of human settlement began here from early dates back to 450 BC in Wari-Bateshwar, todays Narshingdi District.
4 There should have been a developed culture of art. But
Mother Nature has its own commandments. Compelling the artistic and archaeological levy, the rivers comprised the most fertile delta of the world. Thus the river Ganges took the appellation of ‘Kirtinasha’ 5 in Hindu literatures. In fact, it is comparable to
Figure 1: Rice powder to decorate the fenestration of mud hut past. that, the blood of her own veins have washed her glorious attainments of the
Primitivism 6 may give us a hypothetical answer with condolence: ‘ Art criticism is either harmful or useless.’ Here the ‘selfness’ is important, not in
3 Mukherjee, Bishwanath; Pashchatto chitro shilper kahini, chapter 1, Chitroshilper
Vumika, page 2, Ananda bazar publishers, Kolkata, May, 1964.
4 MM Hoque and SS Mostafizur Rahman, Wari-Bateshwar, Banglapedia: The
National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka,
Retrieved: 2013-01-11.
5 one who destroys the achievements.
6 The view, that art is not an isolated phenomenon. It is part of a culture, linked up with the history of the culture and with the history of the people. It ranges from

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 4 a sense of ‘selfishness’. This was somewhat self-denial or
Figure 2: Nakshi Kantha: the embroidery blanket self-praising and wants to go against all kind of ownership.
The pronoun ‘me’ represents
‘us’; the whole of mankind.
When the first artist created the first chair, for example; on behalf of all men- was it not an art? For the conventional thinking of human about art, this was a cerebral question of the creative mind and we do not know his or her name that has been lost in the womb of the past for forever. The collective tradition of folk art in Bengal blended with the daily needs thus can be recognized as functional art. To know the practice of aesthetics in Bangla,
Figure 3: Nakshi Pitha, traditional desserts and delicacies: the art of consumption the festivals of agricultural society need to be known first, like Nobanno 7 . Here grains are not only to satisfy their appetite but also have usage as ingredients to decorate floors and fenestrations. This belongs to the most primitive stage of human civilization while the matrimonial society invented agriculture along with religious rituals related to cultivation. It’s more likely to a painting, when a seedling rose in the virgin soil and thus flourished the symbolism of creation. There are 68000 villages in Bangladesh where house wives are busy with works of leisure like embroidery, decorative pillow covering, hand fans of palm leaves and many other artifacts. Cooking, sewing, floor paintings, costume of the females represents the lion’s share of aesthetics in this regard. To exemplify, the landscape of this flat delta is responsible for simplified dresses like Sari 8 worn by woman, which is only a piece of cloth without any joint. Nobody
Products of different races, mentalities, temperaments and historical events to influences of environment. Every society has developed a specific style by giving preference to certain objects and patterns or certain arrangements of lines and spaces.
7 Means ‘new food’, it is the festival of harvest in agro-based village society during the month of Puash in Bengali calendar (December-January).
8 The simple cloth wrap by women, popular all over the subcontinent is national dress of Bangladesh.

5 | B e n g a l a r t told us to design our life style in this way. It might be compared to the acquisition of linguistic skills of a child, who already knows how to communicate with its mother by precarious words but still wants to learn language from her.
In addition, why do people of Bengal like the fairy tales? Though these poor people, who suffered from bitter experiences of life; know that the reality is not as pretty as these tales are. This is because of our journey for art appreciation of a thousand years which starts from the fancy of literature, beyond the grasp of western intelligibility. For our Art, it is a basic need to generate the sense of pleasure, whether beauty is achieved or not and because of artistic truth, that is not the realistic truth. The reality is not stunning, but to see it in an artistic way is the beauty. The aesthetics of our art is embedded in the point of view that ‘not to understand’ any art. The mystery becomes faded when everything is understood and there is nothing to console the human mind. Besides, if ‘one has wasted; one will be wiser’!
What is the uniqueness of Bengal?
Figure 4, 5: Pala Buddhist manuscripts on palm leaves, Bengal’s own ancient miniature art form.
The pictorial religious inscription on palm leaves and the terracotta plaques from the Pala period are the unique features as to be identical as Bengal art.
During the Pala dynasty 9 , the art (i.e. manuscript painting in palm leaves) and sculptural art reached its culmination which gave us our own identity in the realm of oriental art. It encircles some criteria like tradition, decorative motifs, Ariel perspective as well as total atmosphere and total scenario. Without
Pala iconography (750–1174 CE) and practice of terracotta, the origin of art
9 Nearly 400 years of the Buddhist royalty (850-1250) which witnessed the birth of a new civilization in north Bengal and it was the most prosperous reign that Bengal ever experienced.

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 6 in this land cannot be understood. The pictorial narration of epics and social life of general people was presented one after another with paneling of blocks and installment in the façades of temples and monasteries. Plasticity of riverine soil gave the opportunity to mold any shape by the ancient artists.
This is true for every civilization which was erected on the bank of rivers.
Rivers were worshipped as form of mother here; it relates the mother iconology with totem believes. Art can be only realized by the fluidity of time. Different ages indicate the evolution of any nation’s artistic achievement and their practice of art with unique trends. During the whole medieval period, synthesis of Islam and Hinduism in rural culture gave birth to Bengal’s own artistic language. Again, a hypothesis estimates that Bengal folk art is a synthesis of the land’s terracotta practice over temple facades and Orissa’s folklore leave painting which seems again a rectified form of
Ajanta art.
10 The features of this sort of art were: decent segmentation in designs, repetition of forms, dazzling colors and light by their appearance.
This art was something inherent, instinct and intuitive. Folk art is not iconoclastic by greater means. Study of icon (for religious purpose) was either absent or minimal; but study of nature was prior to this art. It represents the emotion of a community, not of the individuals. Thus the names of folk artists are lost in the womb of the past. Folk arts 11 rather help us to understand the time flow, the unchanged rural life style of a thousand years. Art of Bengal is synonymous to art of folklore.
Bengal: Where literature shaped the Art
Figure 6: Painting depicts riddle solving,
Quamrul Hasan, 1978
Here comes the importance of Folk
Literature to shape our art. Proverb
(Probad), folk saying, adages
(bachan, probachan) and riddles/ rhymes (shlok) are part of our rich oral-folk culture which provides an identity to this nation. They are the
10 Mitra, Asok; Varoter Chitrokola, (Art of India, ) part II, chapter 2, Lokoshilper
Dorbari Dhara, (the royal court sequence of folk painting) page 49, Ananda publishers, Kolkata, 1956.
11 Art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople, primarily utilitarian and decorative; characterized by naive style and still surviving.

7 | B e n g a l a r t unique ingredients of our heritage and carry the cultural values. Unlike folk songs, these collections of oral wisdom remain timeless and remind us of our unique heritage that reveal the past. Riddles are one of the oldest branches of folk-literature and thus have shaped our art and can be found in almost all the regions of the country. These are very common in many
Bengali epic poems of the middle-ages. In fact, in many Bengali fairy tales of that age and later, the protagonist often can save his or her life or win a big prize by answering riddles.
12 Based on the dialect of the region, riddles have different names like chhilka, thollok, dhok, dostan, dithan, shilok ; so on.
13 However, such riddles were once a great source of entertainment in village chitchat. While some are just meant to create confusion and fun, while others are real brain teasers. Some riddles throw a challenge to the audience or present questions. Many riddles are also used to teach morality or pass down knowledge. Wisdom, no doubt is expressed through the adages of Khona, especially in case of agriculture; which were considered as the farmers' Bible. The use of orthography and comparison to different animals, plants, human parts and other objects is common in Bengali riddles- ‘A sort of verbal puzzle.’ 14 Thus cognitive folk painting became possible to flourish during the medieval period for documentation with pictorial illustrations of these wits. Folk culture may indicate why oriental art always tries to balance the cold and warm colors because the imagination comes through the observation from the surrounding nature. An inscription of folk sayings:
“ ওপারেতে মেঘে ঢাকা ধূসর আকাশ
এ পারেতে নাগা মরিচ লাল টুকটুক করে। ’’
It means, “There is a grey sky over casted by clouds on one side of the river
On this side, the red chili is dark in its very color.”
12 Prof. Dr. Wakil Ahmed, Loko Kola Probondhaboli (folk art articles), chapter 1, section: Bangla folk literature, page 57, Gotidhara publishers, Dhaka, February,
2001.
13 Star weekend magazine, Tamanna Khan, Volume 11, Issue 15; April 13, 2012
14 Chaudhuri, Titash; Lokoshahityaer Nanadik, (various points of folklore literature: an anthology of essays) chapter 5: riddles of folk literature, page 63, Shova prokash,
Dhaka, February, 2009

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If we consider this subaltern literature 15 as a picture, we find a background of grey (sky) and any object of dark red (chili). This is considered as a balanced combination of colors in oriental arts.
What have the ancient poets in Bengal delta thought about the colors of three universes?
The Underground is black (darkness), over the earth life is green, heaven is white (peace) and blue (warm) but hell is red (fire). Even the four major casts of Hindus reflect the thinking of distinction: priests wear white or yellow
(purity), warriors and rulers wear red (success) traders wear yellow (neutral) and the low casts wear black (inferior). Lord Krishna is not a black guy at all, his complexion was amended
Figure 7: Krishna wearing yellow dress, symbol of highness by the aristocrat priests and it is ‘bluish black’ to avoid the inferiority of low casts. Another name of Krishna is ‘Pitamber’ 16 , demonstrates the Aryan relation to legitimate the indigenous (black people) culture. To enhance the pictorial quality of any literary work, the poets of Bengal renaissance (18 th century) first created the environment and guided the reader to go through. Tagore and Jibananda Dash 17 are the best examples of this. Tagore was more subjective and he emphasized on the capability of black, as a hue, which can be used both in cold and warm moods but Dash inscribed the landscape most and he preferred grey in many regards. For instance, the modern song of Hemanta Mukherjee depicts the divisions of various colors:
নীল নীল , ( hue ) সবুজের ছ োঁয়া ( chrome ) কিনা তা বুঝিনা ,
ফিকে
-
গাঢ় ( value ) হরেক রকম কম বেশি নীল ( value ),
তার মাঝে আনমনা হাসির সামিল (whitish) কটা ( dark ) গাাংচিল।
It means, “ blue and blues( hue ), might be storked by green( chrome )
That I dont understand,
15 Literature created by persons without access to hegemonic structure of culture; the marginal people’s literature which is depended only in verbal inheritance.
16
Yellow dressed lord.
17 Jibanananda Das (1899 –1954) was Bengal's greatest modern poet, writer, novelist and essayist. The well recognized poet of the post-Tagore era in Bangla literature.

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The light-dark( value ) various amounts of blue( value ),
The eye catching ( dark ) gull admidst the scenario like a careless laughter(whitish).
As Bengal art is not aloof from orientalism, it has shown fondling toward static contrast. Why do the sculptors of goddess Durga 18 paint the eyes at last? In fact,
Artists, painters, poets of all ages were fond of eyes not only for its color but also for its leaf like
Figure 8: eyes of Devi, the last task of artist shape. The eye is the most contrasting part of the human figure whether the iris is black, brown, blue or green in the white background. This is known as static contrast and used in oriental art frequently. For information, Europeans practiced the colorful contrasting system.
Figure 9: colorful rally of the first day of
Bangla calendar in civic context
According to Kandinsky, blue and yellow creates the most contrasting effect. However, isn’t Pahela Boishakh 19 is stunningly colorful?
Probably, it itself; is to reflect the warmth of colors in each of our human minds. In addition, the oriental dresses of women have long parts in the shoulders and hand with a lot of variations in colors, (e.g. Sari in subcontinent originated from Bengal and the kimono in Japan) because dress is also considered as an art piece to reflect the culture.
The basic morphology and characteristics of Bengal art: Let us consider that there is a common and coarse margin between oriental and occidental art –
Oriental art -- design oriented linearity, colorful by primary colors, light appearance, decorativeness, silo-perspective and two dimensional.
18 The most celebrated worship festival of Bengali Hindus dedicated after this goddess of protection, occurs in the Autumn (September-October).
19 The first day of the Bengali calendar, Bangla New Year, 14 th April.

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Occidental art – volumetric, perspective-ness, anatomical perfection, gravy and dark appearance, mixed colors and three dimensional.
What is color? Frankly speaking, color is our experience. Memory is the source of all our colors. Bengal art is truly fond of green color as the inhabitants are acquaintanced with
Figure 10: Babui nests, a crafting idea from Mother Nature here to obtain the theme. Warm colors (orange, red, yellow) are applied in folk paintings to demonstrate the visual perspective.
Cold colors (sky blue, pink, green) are supportive and preferred as background. the greenery of this landscape. Over again, Chroma change in colors is absent or less practiced in Bengal folk art but value change in colors that creates tonal variation of one particular color was always hailed
Artistic soul and intelligence are needed to create any composition first. If intelligence is accompanied with only experience, it is named as crafts, not art. This truth is not only contextual for the humankind but also for other creatures which can ‘create’ art. Some birds (e.g. Babui) show inherent eligibility of craftsmanship through their experience. Nature is the best teacher for craft and craft is intimate to our folk art.
Figure 11 and 12: Descent of Buddha, (1180 AD) and Ashtasahasrika-
Prajnaparamita (1050 AD) examples of Pala art of painting
Again, lines of the paintings come from the story behind it. Horizontal lines are calm, moving while vertical lines are bold and stand still. Circular and any other serpentine lines reflect softness and are amiable, adaptive and are

11 | B e n g a l a r t the basic comprising elements of Bengal folk art. Story based painting becomes an illustration and loses balance and harmony. But it is only true for the western art, because these ‘story tellers’ can still be considered as paintings and the most practiced trend in oriental art where perspective is absent only for depicting more story. From Pala art to Pot-Chitra 20 , this story was always contextual for our art.
21 In vice versa, the authentic Mahayanist Buddhist text of Pala art, there is no thematic connection between the texts and their paintings. In this type of art, Tantric-Buddhist
Gods and Goddesses are also found profusely in the palm leave miniatures.
22
Figure 13: Gazi scroll painting, Hindu tiger goddess’s impact over Sufi cult painting;
1800 AD, in British Museum, London
About folk art, for further information, all these features could be derived from Bengali folk music 23 and the vocal procedure of singing; the coarse melody shows similarity to all kinds of visual folk arts with rough patches. There is always an introduction at first, then the theme is revealed, then variation starts; after that a contrast comes, theme and contrast get mixed in the next stages and at last, the theme is aback to reveal. Those basics were not neglected in any folk art, consciously or whimsically. A single piece of
Folk art can also be explained
20 Painting over the surface of earthen pots.
21 Bhattacharya, Asok; Banglar Chitrakala (the paintings of Bengal),Kolkata,1994.
22
Figure 14: ‘Story tellers’, perspective less,
Kolkata,1978 multi contextual and narrative type of folk
23 Folk music of Bengal composed for different groups: hermits, peasants, fishermen painting with long scrolls and cart drivers, each having specific songs relating to them; along with devotional songs of religion. The music genre is diverse and tonal variation changes region to region and sung with simple instruments. Major three tune based music in
Bangladesh –Vayaiyah, Baul and Vatiali.

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 12 according to this segregation as these all are about the story telling. There are even numerous genres of folk songs but amazingly show camaraderie, they are sung with simplest instruments and the voice is always high and coarse, like the brush strokes of folk painters. An art, named Pata Chitra 24 was developed basically as a form of storytelling that incorporates very raw and down-to-earth visual narrative, along with oral/aural presentation in the form of songs/chants. The Patuas of Bengal are an endogamous caste whose religion is problematic to determine, as they follow both Hindu and Muslim customs. This is synthesis of beliefs which identified themselves and also their works.
25
Again, an inconspicuous exception can also be found in a limited canvas. It is one kind of pottery painting, used instead of iconology in religious sacraments among the Hindus- popularly known as Lakshmi Sora and the ritual is maintained especially in
Dhaka and Faridpur region during the worship of goddess
Lakshmi (wealth). In fact,
Figure 15: Creativity limited in a concave circle, Lakshmi –Sora; art that hangs.
Kalighat's artisans have followed the tradition of Sora 26 painting hereditarily. Why these are designed in holding mode? Because we, for our fondling to our prayer as a devotee, for the soul-intimate relation with our artistic creations with religious rituals; and for the thirst to acquire précised negotiation over observation and imagination, this sort of art had been possible to evolved. example of mental perspective,
Again, different forms of folk art tend to
Figure 16: Dream of Maya,
25 Giusti, M. and Chakraborty, U. ed. Immagini Storie Parole, Dialoghi di formazione coi dipinti cantati delle donne Chitrakar del West Bengal. Mantova:
Universitas Studiorum, 2014.
26 The earthen plate’s back side is colored to depict the image of goddess of wealth,
Lakshmi.

13 | B e n g a l a r t repeat the common motifs. For instance, the water lily, the sun, the tree-oflife, flowery creepers, fish, elephant, horse, peacock, waves, temple, mosque etc. are seen in paintings, embroidery, weaving, carving and engraving.
Many of these motifs have symbolical meanings. For example, the fish epitomizes fertility, the bunch of paddy prosperity, the lily limpidness.
These all are the symbolism of riddles.
27 Another factor, most important perhaps, that has influenced the art and culture of this land is the six seasons of vibrant color.
In oriental art, the perspective may appear in several ways: force perspective, mental perspective, two-dimensional perspective and aerial perspective. For the diagonal perspective lines, a painting gets movement and depth whether the perspective line construction is calculative that of the west or not. Again, in the aerial perspective, subjects are small by size, background is obscure and colors are faded to indicate the distances. Truth be told, the practical experience in any foggy environment is something where the sense of
Figure 17: the company art: Boro Katra, Dhaka; sketch by
Charles Doily perspective gets lost. Perspective is not mandatory for our art at all! Our weakness is our strength.
The schooling of Bengal art
Bengali artists like Joynuddin,
Vobani Das, Ram
Das, Sheikh
Mohammad Amir practiced the western art styles during the period
27
Prof. Dr. Wakil Ahmed, Loko Kola Probondhaboli (folk art articles), chapter 1,
Figure 18: Kalighat Temple, Calcutta, during 1860’s
2001.

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 14 of 1757 to 1850’s which is named after the reign, Company painting 28 .
This period was somewhat we may call a blind imitation of west.
Meanwhile, foreign artists explored the then Bengal, both lifestyle and landscape. The mad rush provided the opportunity for fortune seekers of
Europe. Tili Ketol, John Jofani, Arthur Devis, Tomas Hiki, Robert Hom,
George Cheneri, Charles Doily, William Hoges, Joshua Reynolds, Tomas
Geinsborgh, Wiliam Hogarth are some noteworthy names.
Apart from this, Mughal miniatures 29 had important an addition which might have some sort of amalgam with subaltern potarts in different parts of India, especially in
Kalighat temple’s yard, Kolkata which was the last destination of artists from the
Mughal capital Delhi, not only for the reason that the city was destroyed by the
British in around 1857, but also the city’s richest glory of craft and traditional art declined for the lack of patronization 30 .
Thus Kalighat painting was a blend of
28 The first century of the British reigns in India, from 1757 to 1857. As British East
India Company was the legislation body of this rule, historians named everything in this period belonging it, for example: company law.
29
Mughals continued their ethnic legacy as Mid Asians in art along with Persian influence. For the first time of human history, an industry of miniature art was flourished in Mughal capital, Delhi. Dating from 13th century these miniatures are actually portrait art with wide range of subjects in natural setting, depicted in a single plate or piece of cloth and focused on the luxurious life of aristocrats, hunting activity, landscapes and portraits with calligraphic borders and erected in a container called “Rehal” and never hanged on the walls. At a same time, they emphasized on anatomy; not accurately like Europeans. The artists did not implement designs; rather they imposed three dimensional effects in two dimensional figures. It features mental perspective, main subject highlighted by color and size as individuality was important; and also illustrative in mode.
30 Bose, Nandalal; Chitro Dorson (philosophy of painting) chapter: Kalighater Pot
(pots of Kalighat), page 88, Shantiniketon, 1956.

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Mughal miniature and folk art of Bengal. In Bengal, the triumph of Mughal practice went until the reign of last independent ruler, Shiraj-Ud-Dullah 31 .
For the tragic hero of our history, an unknown or less emphasized mention is; that he patronized the calligraphic art (inspired by Tughra trend of Cairo) and indigenous pot- painting both in Dhaka and Murshidabad.
Earlier, the company artists were praised in the Mughal courts and this paved the way to exchange their thought with indigenous art through miniature paintings. Another opinion suitable for the selection of this place was; schooling under a Banyan tree which has always been a common subaltern practice of this region for a thousand years. Meanwhile, as local art was introduced to western art, it created a period of dilemma, which took a long cooling period to get stable. On the contrary, this Kalighat School treatment
(thick on edges but coarse and brusque in the middle of lines that act like a unit to comprise the whole painting) remained influential in the mind of modern Indian artisans and is still contextual. Again,
Primary colors were preferred in this art which come from the idea exchange of
Mughal miniatures along with folk art. The
Shading and spherical forms of Pot Chitro 32 seem to have emanated from the sculptural aesthetics of Ajanta, the Kerala Vitti Chitro, crafts of Omritoshor (Punjab) and Jaipur
(Rajasthan). Generously curving figures, earthy satirical style; technique of
Figure 19 to 23: Kalighat paintings, unknown artists during 1850 to 1920, pen and ink line drawings filled in flat bright colors and paper used as a substrate. modulation and amazing sense of observation, simplification and proportion defers Kalighat art from conventional art.
Under the umbrella of Kalighat Poto Shoili
(pottery art) some masters like Neelmoni
31 The Muslim ruler (nawab) of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, who was defeated by the
British lieutenant lord Clive at the battle of Palashi on 23 rd June, 1757.
32 painting over earthen pot.

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 16
Das, Bolaram Das, Gopal Das, Nebaron Chondro Ghosh, Kalichoron Ghosh etc. were incubated in this school to nurture Bangle’s own style of art. The school influenced iconology and pottery along with painting which witnessed the epoch making change. Demand of printing also accelerated the progress of this school. The art was practiced in folk motif rather than portraying traditional religious views. The debauched youth, prostitution, luxury of the Babu Society (the youth educated in European manner and rich in a short time) and overall social discrimination was inscribed in symbolic manners by the forms of animals, fishes and so on. Bengal School of Art was a special form of art that thrived in eastern India during the
British rule in the early 20th century.
33
In the year of 1854, establishment of Industrial Art society which later converted to Govt. art school brought a burning question in front of us – what kind of art should Bengal practice? From 1860’s to 1905, it was time for an identity dilemma of Bengal art due to political turbulence as Bengal was divided into two parts, the incident named Bongo-Bhongo 34 . For the consequence, in the period of 1910-1920, there were no identical features of Art in
Bengal until the formation of Neo-Bengal
School (1871-1951) come to the light. This
Figure 24: Feast of Lamps by
Abanindranath Tagore, Kokka woodblock print, around 1905 form of art was connected with the nationalism movement in Bengal, first in
India. The Bengal School of Art arose as an avant-garde and strong activist movement retorting against the academic art styles that were promoted in India previously. Following the influence of spiritual ideas of India in the Western countries, there were suggestions by
British educators to imitate the style of
Mughal art form. They never recognized the potentiality of folk art and even refused to evaluate them as fine art. Folk art was identified as minor art or craft by these colonial rulers. This caused controversy, which led to assaults by students and complain from local correspondents that included the nationalists who considered it to be a retrogressive interchange. This move was well supported by Abanindranath
33 Glassie, Henry; Art and Life in Bangladesh, Indianapolis: University Press Unit, page 511, 1997.
34 The Partition of Bengal on 16th of October, 1905 by Lord Curzon which lasted until 1911.

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Tagore, a nephew of the Bengali literature genius Rabindranath Tagore. The notable artists of this school were: Nondolal Boshu, Shurendranath Kor,
Ashit Kumar Haldar, K. Venkatappa, Shomorendra Gupta and Khitintr Nath
Mazumder.
The motto of this trend was fourfold:
1. Education
2. Knowledge
3. Celebration
4. Virtue
For information, Ravi Varma (1848-1906) was the first Indian painter of European zest to patronize Indian painting, while the western world was not ready to approve our arts as fine art; it was according to the question of perspective, to be exact; where accuracy of Vinci’s mechanical drawing considered as the prior benchmark. Varma attributed Indian art in the dramatic way, where lack of imagination to inscribe poetic and mythological aspects but
Figure 25: Okakura Kakuzō
(1862–1913) traditional Indian Vokti style was absent in his works. Varma's paintings portrayed sari-clad women in graceful manner which became an important motif of that time.
35 He was the first modern Indian painter from the Deccan who sewed the seed of art direction in minds of our Tagores. Later,
Abanindronath Tagore attempted to develop some link with Japanese artists as part of an objective to build a Pan-Asianize model of art from with a direct supervision of Japanese art reformer and scholar, Okakura Kakuzō. In
1903, Okakura sent two Japanese artists to India, Yokoyama Taikan and
Hishida Shunso, from whom Abanindranath learnt the techniques of
Japanese ‘brush-n-ink’ works and watercolor wash. In the same year, in his book on Asian artistic and cultural history, he proclaimed the spiritual unity
35 Mitter, Partha; The Artist as Charismatic Individual – Raja Ravi Varma, Art and nationalism in colonial India, 1850–1922: occidental orientations; Cambridge
University Press. pp. 179–215, 1994.

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 18 which distinguishes orient from the West, is diverting Asian’s artistic thought.
The book is famous for its opening paragraph-
"Asia is one. The Himalayas divide, only to accentuate, two mighty civilizations, the Chinese with its communism of Confucius, and the Indian with its individualism of the Vedas. But not even the snowy barriers can interrupt for one moment that broad expanse of love for the Ultimate and
Universal……. to search out the means, not the end, of life." 36
Eventually, the Bengal school`s influence in India declined after the spread of modernist ideas during the 1920s.
For this study, only space arts (painting, sculpture and architecture) have been discussed according to historical chronology:
Painting
Rabindranath Tagore’s
Modernism was somewhat we call individualism and independence. His individuality was expressed by contrast, black lines over white pages. They were not figures but doodles.
Victoria O’Compo’s collection of Mayan pots inspired him a lot during his South America visit; he also gave proper gratefulness to her in his writing later. Critics say, his pictures are much sturdier than his lyrics. His paintings seems typographic and of imagery reality- to explore the new. Surprisingly, for painting; Tagore preferred darkness while his poetry indicates that he was the worshipper of light. Dimness was always profound by color while he praised the light in his proses. These are likely the antithesis of his poetry.
36 Okakura Kakuzō, The Ideals of the East, edited by J. Murray, page 1, London:
1903.

19 | B e n g a l a r t
Why such contradiction? Why did Tagore get attention in Germany and why did he not give any name to his paintings?
Germany evaluated Tagore for his human nature study in an Expressionist way along with a Nihilist philosophical point of view, which wasn’t Tagore’s intention. It seems that the corrections over his prose lead him to create the opposite nature of his poetic psychic- peace against the monstrous unrest.
Nephew Abonindranath Tagore fixed an adjective for his works, ‘Kotum-Kata’
(cutting a dearer one) that to characterize his drawings. In fact, this was a whimsical transformation of the distortions into an artistic perversion. Musicality, pictorial reality, eye movement over his painting leads us to discover the forms that are curvilinear and thus his initial motto was caught. Color, form, line and geometricized elements are always essential to understand any painting, but here grammar was omitted. Likewise, Surrealist sub consciousness, as subject and impressionist color schemes, as configuration; were brought by this greatest poet of Bengal to declare the statement of his mental state.
Once he said, he wants to draw the chirping of birds, not the chirping bird. But one thing was constant in his global-Indian mind, to reveal the morals of Upanishads 37 over the simplest natural elements of
Bengal by his paintings. He was advanced
37 Collection of Vedic texts, contain the earliest emergence of some central religious concepts of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. These have been passed down in oral tradition and more than 200 Upanishads are known; written in prose. The prime
(Mukhya) Upanishads all dates possibly from the Pre-Buddhist period (6th century
BC) down to the Maurya period (2 nd century AD). Several authors like Yajnavalkya,
Uddalaka Aruni, Shvetaketu, Shandilya, Aitareya, Pippalada, Sanatkumara, women discussants include Maitreyi, Gargi contributed in this adorn of wisdom.

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 20 in his thinking from his age. Boudoir and Tolstoy were other ‘exceptional painters’ in this row. From his writings:
“To recreate the art is not our habit, to do errors on the way of innovation is acceptable, it also carries fulfillment even to the death. I confess that the beauty of classical music has no bounds while the decoration of Ajanta is also not available elsewhere. But to imitate that in a childish manner for forming any replica isn’t our idealism. The fulfillment that once flourished you; if I cannot surplus that to express yourself again; then all our education should be in vain.” 38
He wrote a letter to a friend in 1931- “What have I got in myself, that nobody has neither ever had it before nor will get it in the future. This cannot be intelligible solely by others if I try to- it is unique. Where I am indiscriminant, there I am a scientist; where I am special, I am a very artist there.”
Again, to another friend; in 1928 - “The east cardinal is the witness of the rise of Robi (sun, the literal meaning of the poet’s name). The songs and speeches are left for the east sky. At the sunset, unfamiliar paintings are ensured for the west sky. My painting and song will dwell on the two different edges of a sea, in the two different homes.”
“Except necessity and knowledge, there is also another relation between human and this universe. This relationship brings ‘form-creation’ and the basic theorem of art. Art is not the painting only, it is a human exertion of diversified appreciation.” 39
These paintings certainly possess psychological interest being products of
38 Robindra Prosonga (context of Tagore), rewritten in Anandabazar Newspaper,
Kolkata; it was originally a speech by Tagore given on 27 December, 1934.
39 Tagore’s article: Rupakar (the creator of formation) 12 April, 1931.

21 | B e n g a l a r t untutored fingers and an untrained mind. In fact, this creation is of addition with the psychoanalysis. In the Preface of exhibition catalogue of
Birmingham City Gallery in 1930, he wrote-
“ I, as an artist, cannot claim any merit for my courage; for it is the unconscious courage of the unsophisticated, like that of one who walks in dream on a perilous path, who is saved only because he is blind to the risk.”
Figure 26 to 36: the nameless paintings by R. Tagore including corrections of proses, nature, woman, animals and self-portraying.
But nobody will deny that it was Abanindranath Tagore, the pioneer painter in the modern era of Bengal; who gave us a distinct painting trend of our own after 1000 years of Pala contribution. Thus it was named Neo-Bengal style where Ajanta, Elora, Khajoraho and Mughal miniatures were really

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 22 rediscovered. The best example of such painting style is ‘Bharat Mata’ or
‘Mother India’; many art critics believe now that the painting is a synthesis of neo-mythology with familiar pictorial treatment to bring an evolution in our art. The painting depicted a young woman who was portrayed with four arms in the manner of Hindu deities, holding symbolic objects of India’s national aspirations. For his subjects, he studied the Mughal miniatures first, then brought the essence of folk and eventually, created art with European zest, which opened a new window in our culture.
Figure 37: Mother India, nationalist icon in mode of Bengal lady, watercolor
(above) and Figure 38, 39: are the portraits by Abanindranath Tagore, way to modern painting (right)
Abanindranath also painted numerous such paintings that were influenced by Mughal miniature art, a style that expressed India’s distinct spiritual potentials, in an opposition to the materialism of the West; he believed. In fact, Bengal is indebted to Tagore family by versatile means. From the beginning of modernism in painting of Bengal, Abanindronath practiced secular art while Zamini Roy defined ‘Bengalism’ in her own way.

23 | B e n g a l a r t
Figure 40: Zainul Abedin, Women, oil on canvas, 98x240cm, 1973
In addition, Gogendranath Tagore and Nandalal Bose were unique by their works. Still they are considered as five master figures in a whole. Rest of the story pivots around the Bangladeshi artists, especially belongs to Zainul
Abedin (1914-1976), the Shilpacharia; 40 was the pioneer of modernism in Bengal painting. The trend he introduced to Bengal art was modern by composition. He used the basic geometry to give emphasize on his pictorial composition and preferred the Revit
Figure 41: Santal couple, Zianul
Cox paper for its coarse appeal over his paintings. The philosophy behind his painting may be seen as his ‘never ending emotion’ for the people of this country. His motto was to uphold the words, “art is for man’s sake.” 41 To evaluate his painting, it can be inferred that he established a monogram for agricultural Bengal. He was the magician of lines; those expressed postures of human body and rhythms with minimal strokes. In fact, He juxtaposed the drawing and painting in a single canvas. His indifference in detailing, two dimensionality and sculptural or tapering subjects remind us of the thousand years’ folk and Pala heritage
40 One, who is the master of masters in art or the chancellor of art.
41 ‘L'art pour l'art’ (translated as "art for art's sake") is credited to Théophile Gautier
(1811–1872), who was the first to introduce the phrase in the early 19th century. It expresses a philosophy that the intrinsic value of art should depict the only "true" art, divorced from any didactic, ethical or utilitarian view. Pleasure of creation is vital here.

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 24 of most fertile delta of the World.
However, Muktagacha (an area in Mymenshing district) on the bank of
Brahmaputra and Haors 42 of Kishogonj district not only influenced the folk tradition of whole Bengal, but also Zainul’s art. His tours to the remote areas, acute observation of indigenous craft and vernacularism in his language to adapt with the common people shaped a unique personality as a painter. ‘River is my master.’ 43 The subaltern subjectivity of Realism 44 impressed Zainul very much. For a progressive sequence, birth of Zainul was possible in a way which could be referred to the “regional reality”. The
‘Muddy’ livelihoods of villages, cruelty of famine in 1943; all experiences have shaped his artistic psychic, indeed. He blurred the dividing line between classical and folklore conflict in Bengal painting. Study of western painter Butcher, that was human anatomy in lines; helped him lot to juxtapose figures with contextual nature in a minimalist way. The serpentine lines, dynamism, anatomical difference of man and woman reminds us that art is the artificial but it is artificial so that we can understand the reality better where folk forms with their geometric shapes, sometimes semiabstract representation, the use of primary colors were the main features.
This was depicted well in his masterpiece painting, ‘Santal couple’.
Figure 42, 43: the famine series of 1943 and Goon Tana (dragging the boat by string)
42 Derived from Bengali word Saor, which means sea. The North East Region of
Bangladesh, marshy basin of distinctive characteristics like twice-yearly reversal of
Monsoon causing flash flood, becomes vast land of crops in winter and of diverse topographical and ecological features in 7 districts in between Sylhet-Dhaka region.
43 Khaled, Mainuddin; Paintings of Bangladesh, chapter 1, section: Zainul,
Brahmaputrar Borputra, page 27, Dibya Prakash publishers, Dhaka, February 2000.
44 For further information, during the time period of 1810-1850’s in Europe; origin of this trend was embedded with the lifestyles of common people. It reflected the local or regional reality. Spirituality also does have some impact over realism. This depicted internal sadness of human life. Thus sometimes it is pronounced as social realism. However, color was the vital aspect of this trend and Subdue light and prolific faces were the important feature of this trend. The European painters of this period like Dummier, Millet and Delacroix, all wanted to draw the mood through colors and movements by lines, which suits Zainul’s motto in his painting.

25 | B e n g a l a r t
Figure 24: S M Sultan, Men in Paddy Field, oil on canvas
A fter Zainul, S.M. Sultan (1923-1994) took the nation’s attention in modern painting. Sultan was worshipper of masculinity. His prime subject was farmers in the primitive context which again reflects the common landscape of Bangladesh. In his famous painting
“first plantation”, he has chosen a subject where a farmer with a lot of unnatural muscles and the Angeles behind him were inspiring his work. It mentions the importance of the farmer in inaugurating the civilization, what was his cherished desire for the whole life; Adam Surat 45 . This is a decent partiality to Michael Angelo and nobody practiced this European element (angels) in oriental art like him. Critics ascribed this painting as
“Bengalisation” of Italian
Renaissance. But the unique thing
Figure 45: The first plantation, Sultan about his work was the allegory where anatomy reflects the mental strength.
In comparison with Zainul (modernist), Sultan was much oriental in his works and it is observed in the hands and legs of the human figures in his paintings; disproportionate and cursive by character in volumetric creatures, even women in his painting abandoned beauty and acquired strength. There
45 The Inner Strength and beauty of male figure.

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 26 are three elements in his paintings: volumetric figure, traditional ornaments in these figures and a labor-oriented art. Sultan was the painter who can be considered as Utopian.
46 His abnormal massing, huge human figures, primitive contexts on background are to resemble ‘beyond the ownership’ concept in his painting, which also commemorates the traditional folk art of
Bengal.
Another contemporary painter, to them; Quamrul
Hassan (1921-1988), the Potua 47 , who’s prolific lines and simple basic colors in the paintings were nothing but to resemble the simplified life of the countryside. His painting created a Figure 46: Quamrul Hasan, Peacock and Parrot, poster color, 56X76cm, 1976.
colored framing within a frame, which indicates the endless perspective sense of his initial inspiration- the folklore motif. He introduced ‘new figuration’ in our art; while owl, fox, snacks etc. common animals of village were represented as
Figure 47: Woman with Bird 2, 1977; Quamrul evil deeds of the society 48 . Influenced by Picasso’s Cubism in his modernist practice, he; from his individuality; dedicated himself to take an ablution in the harmonious folk wave on the way to his representations. However, he mixes
46 Syed Manzoorul Islam. "SM Sultan", Banglapedia. Retrieved: May 3, 2014.
47 One, who draws figures and motifs over pot.
48 Khaled, Mainuddin; Paintings of Bangladesh, chapter 1, section; Qamrul:
Protikaronner Rittik, page 46, Dibya Prakash publishers, Dhaka, February 2000.

27 | B e n g a l a r t
Romanticism with Realism; the strong curved lines and the contrasted use of color contribute to a sensuous appeal that blunts the edges of harsh reality.
He always borrowed the two-dimensionality of pot paintings and also attempted to give the quality of three-dimensionality in it. Instead of using mixed colors, in most of his paintings; he used primary colors like pot painters do and sometimes, he applied flat colors without creating tonal variations to create perspective by using various colors in one plane, so that a sense of height and distance is possible to create only by colors. This technique was an inspiration from Henri Matisse. Again, rural women and their plight is another theme that Hassan has repeatedly worked on, in three stages (Love and Premarital stage, happy conjugal life, and marital separation). His treatment of women emphasizes the bond between them, most of his paintings of women are of groups of women, rarely can a solo painting be found.
Eventually, this study wants to proclaim; from Tagore to Quamrul, it is obvious that all of them wanted to search an answer of a very simple question- what is our art! And each time, the question echoed on the realm of folk arena; where they all bowed to sought for help, they were enriched but without any specific response.
Sculpture
Figure 48, 49: Clay dolls found in Indus valley, still contextual to Bengal folk iconology and made with same technique.
Bengal sculpture is the indispensible part of the sculptural consequence of
Indian subcontinent. The Indus valley civilization was erected by the
Dravidian and Austric people during 2700BC to 1500BC. The Tepa Putol 49 found here is surprisingly still practiced all over the subcontinent with the same skills, thus the same configuration achieved. Unlike other parts of the
Indian Subcontinent, the art of sculpture in Bangladesh started through the molding of terracotta because of the dearth of stone and abundance of the soft alluvial clay.
49 Clay dolls, made with a simple technique: by pressing the mud ball with fingers to form any figure.

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 28
In addition, Maurian sculptures of 2 nd century had an implicit contribution over our sculpture.
Figure 50: Zokkhi Murti, female fertility icon
These sculptures were made of sandstone; had roughness by texture, but they achieved astonishing dazzling quality when they were get polished. Asoka pillar is considered as the best example of this age. This art reflects the carpentry skills of indigenous craftsmanship.
Synthesis of folk art and spirituality along with sexuality shaped the forms of sculptures in later periods. Zokkha (male fertility figure) and
Zokkhi Murti (female fertility figure) are the best example of this amalgam which opened ample of scopes for latter experiments in all around India.
Post-Gupta period in Bengal (500AD to
650AD) was distinct by its own characteristics, while India practiced Hinduism in sculptures; 50
Bengal was confined to the Buddhist practice, which is known as Pala schooling of art.
51
Figure 51: Bengal school of
Buddhist art
For further information, earlier; this Buddhist art also gone through an evolution of religious amendment. During the Kushan and Andhra period, (30AD to 433AD) Buddhism faced a period of dilemma for the burning question of
Buddha’s iconography. Three cults were developed in this regard- Bodhisattya (as
Buddha is not taking his Nirvana ) Mahajani
(liberal minded for idolism) and Hinojani
(conservative and on opposition of erecting icons).
50 The northern India practiced Bhaisnavism, eastern India practiced Shakkya cult and the whole south India practiced Shaiva cult in sculpture. Notable among these is
Bishnu statue at Khajorahho, Shiva and Parvati statue in Durga temple and Nataraj icon in Chola temples.
51 Harle, J.C., The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent; second edition.
1994, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art, page 59-70.

29 | B e n g a l a r t
Figure 52: Amaravati School of the Deccan
For the Mahajani consequence, three schools were possible to develop along the Silk Road 52 -
Gandhara style with Hellenistic influence, Mathura school with traditional sculpting skills in
Uttar Pradesh and Amravati school in the Deccan.
53 Some poses were invented in
Buddhist sculpture during this period- Avoy, Alochon, Dan,
Dhyan and Vumispasha. These were influential to Kathhak dance 54 also and Jataka
Kahini 55 was a widely practiced sculptural theme.
Figure 53, 54: an example of Mathura School, which influenced the Bengal’s sculptural style in Pala era (above) and Gandhara School, shows Hellenistic sways (left)
52 Via this route, Hellenistic, Iranian, Indian and Chinese influences intermixed.
Greco-Buddhist art represents the most vivid example of such interaction: Buddha depicted as human in Kushan period; by attribution of Greek influence. The fusion of Greek and Indian elements can be found in later Buddhist art of China.
53 Boardman, John ed., The Oxford History of Classical Art, 1993, page 370–378.
54
One of 8 classical Indian dances, have lineage to Jaipur, Lucknow & Varanasi.
55 The tales refer to a voluminous literature concerning the previous births (Jāti) of the Buddha in both human and animal form. This list includes 29 types of stories.

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 30
However, the sculptures of
Figure 55: Terracotta over Kantaji Temple, Dinajpur
Buddhist goddesses of
Bengal like Tara and Monjushra were shaped under the supervision of local artists in such a way, as like the potters using tools with folk technics which provided a soft appearance on sculptures. those
During the Pala dynasty, the
Figure 56: Terracotta plaques of Pala art in Buddhist monasteries, 7th century. culmination of
Bengal sculpture were so influential that the technique was practiced recurrently and the fame reached to Java and Sumatra, Bali, Vietnam, (at Anchopat sculptures) China
(Tibetan art) and even in Japan with some architectonic appeal. To determine the stylistic character of Pala painting and sculpture, a reference left by the Tibetan historian Taranath is of relevance to this account.
According to him, Bengal art reached a high watermark during the rule of two early Pala kings Dharmapala (c 781-821 AD) and Devapala (c 821-861
AD), when two artists of Varendra 56 , Dhimana and his son Vitapala, attained eminence. They were masters in image making in stone and metal as well as in painting. But in style, the son differed from the father.
56 Ancient of civilization of North Bengal, capital city named Pundra; todays divisional area of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.

31 | B e n g a l a r t
While Dhimana pursued the “eastern style” of Mathura 57 , Vitapala sculpted in a style termed as Magadha (todays
South Bihar) which means “the middle-country”. The style of the first phase (995-1058 AD) is found to be closely linked with that of classical
Ajanta. Bronze sculptures began to be assimilated in the 7th century AD primarily from the Chittagong region.
58 Bengal art of sculpture then went under a deep sleep for next 800
Figure 57: Krishna Nagar idol to quench the British thirst. years. During the reign of independent
Muslim sultans, especially in the time of Mubarak Shah; the folk art of
Bengal was patronized along with its cerebral literature. But there were no evidence of erection of Hindu temples as well as sculpting icons in this period until the Mughals permitted to build one of the unique temples of this world, the Kantaji temple of magnificent terracotta plaques which was secular for presentation. It seems,
Architecture was a canvas for sculptors. Along with the lifestyle of common peoples, this temple bears some political epochs like the Mughal conquest of Bengal, march-past of
Akbar’s soldiers under Manshing’s 59 leadership.
Figure 58: Santal family, Ram
Kingkor Bez; Shanti Niketon
57 Gupta period (320 AD to 500AD) reached at the climax of classical Indian sculpture because the contemplation was already achieved. There were two schools of sculpture in this period- Mathura, a long practiced tradition and Mathura was the most important center in this development, which applied to Hindu and Jain art as well as Buddhist art also. Another one was Sarnath Tempera, a method of sculpturing to derive the painting quality; like wet Buddha images.
58 C B Pic Ron, ‘Buddhist Painting during the reign of Harivarmadeva in Southeast
Bangladesh’, Journal of Bengal Art, 4, 1999.
59 Man Singh was Rajput King of Jaipur and trusted general of the Mughal emperor
Akbar, who included him among the Navaratnas, (the 9 gems of the royal court).

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 32
It was the British fantasy to explore the art and sculpture of Bengal in the colonial period. They found Krishna Nagar clay dolls and Kalighat pottery important in this regard. Some important figures of modern sculpture are
Fonivushan Basu, Atul Bose, Deviprashad Roy, Ram Kingkor Bez, Novera
Ahmed, Abdur Razzak, Abdullah Khalid, Hamiduzzamman Khan, Alok
Roy, Mrinal Sen, Shamim Shikdar and Ferdousi Priovashini.
Ram Kingkor Bez, the father of modern sculpture in colonial age, practiced traditional essence with site specification and his sculpture was always erected on a base thus physical connection is observed and was somewhat expressive for the limitation of used materials. His practice in
Shantiniketon 60 gave birth to some great sculptures like Sujata, Kolen
Banshi and Santal family.
61 Again, Abdur Razzak is considered as the pioneer of modern sculpture in Bangladesh, his famous sculpture is a promenade work, named ‘Jagroto Janata’. Another famous sculptor was
Novera Ahmed who got a synthesis of western sculpture of Henry Moore and folk press clay dolls and the domestic animal cow was an important subject for her. During the 60’s; she developed an international intelligibility of Bengal sculpture and turned the so called ‘weakness,’ according to western critics about oriental art into an asset which is the identity of this nation as its own. Traditional family, primitivism of village, ethnicity and archaic aspects were profound in her works. From political demand of that period, one man wanted to create the aspiration of the
Figure 59, 60 and 61: Sculptures of social realism, Novera Ahmed, Abdur Razzak and Abdullah Khalid respectively; quest for the liberation of Bangladesh
60 Shantiniketan is a small town near Bolpur in the Birbhum District of West Bengal and about 212 kms north of Kolkata. It is famous due to Nobel laureate Rabindranath
Tagore, who established Visva-Bharati University here.
61 Asok Mitra, art of India, Varoter chitrokola, part II, appendix 4, Ramkinker Bez: a genius, yes, but hardly intuitive or untutored, page 160, Ananda publishers, Kolkata,
1956.

33 | B e n g a l a r t nation, he was Abdullah Khalid who accelerated the quest for independence by erecting a social realistic sculpture like ‘Oporajeo Bangla.’ Again,
Hamiduzzamman Khan designed subjective expression like western sculptors: David smith, Anthony, Donald Jud and Alexander Kelda. His notable work is ‘Shangsaptak’. Modernism in sculpture, (can be- flat, concave and conflux) proclaimed that ‘Idea is core of art, not the craftsmanship.’ thus the artist is for the art, art is not for the artist. Artist is absent here, but his skills are presented and vivid. Objective of art should be representation of artistic thought, the classical attitude and regardless of time, space and person that lead to the idea of Romanticism. Again, the subjective phase of modern art was to create the positive and negative spaces in sculpture. The trends of constructivism during the social realism brought a new dimension in our sculpture (e.g. Oporajeo Bangla). In fact,
Critical issues and contextual activities are the concerns and these sculptures are the melodrama of a political massage: ‘Freedom of Bangladesh’.
Architecture
Figure 62: Free flowing character of vernacular architecture in the section of huts
Architecture starts from the nature- especially from the tree and cave, really; the nature is the motivation of any architectural erection especially in vernacular architecture.
What is Bengal’s own architectural character? It’s actually a mammoth’s task to answer while the nation was under several foreign reigns nearly about a millennium and absorbed all the foreign elements as its own.
Only the archaeology of Buddhist Viharas 62 and vernacular architecture are the remaining windows to look through the architectonic past. What about the courtyard for the both?
Figure 63: Traditional pattern cluster around a courtyard
It’s beyond any kind of definition and is of vernacular architecture, a
62 The massive monastery based Buddhist universities in Paharpur, Mainamati and
Mahastangarh (some archaeological sites) were built in Bengal style of architecture, dating from 7 th to 13 th century; which was unique and influential to south-east Asia.

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 34 multi-functional without any built structure. Why is our traditional courtyard empty but full of activity? Let some philosophy get involved:
According to Buddha; space is beyond any definition: ‘ This world is nil.
’ Or “To abandon is to get fulfillment.”
Similarly, from the soul of this soil,
Lalon 63 ; the best folk poet that Bengal has ever got; said: ‘ খাোঁচার ভিতর অচিন
পাখি কেমনে আসে যায় ’. It means: ‘How the
Figure 64: Pitch roof of traditional hut inspired the religious edifices during the medieval era unfamiliar bird (idea or soul) comes in and gets out of the cage’ (human body or structure). Here in architecture, light, water and wind can be represented as idea and architecture incorporating these can be thought like the cage. Again, the thinking of Lalon and the first modern French philosopher, Rene
Descartes’s ‘Intuition’
Figure 65: Mer, at old town of Dhaka, full of joys and activities regardless of ownership comes to the same end in this regard, where we see the culmination of Realism , “I think, therefore I exist” .
64 Later, Freudian idea indicates that sub consciousness is freedom.
Perforation in architecture may be one kind of expression of freedom. But
63 Lalon (1774–1890) was a Baul (mystic) saint, songwriter, social reformer and thinker. He became an icon of religious tolerance whose songs evoked many poets, social and religious thinkers’ thought including Rabindranath Tagore. It is estimated that he had composed nearly 10,000 songs out of which 2,000-3,000 can be tracked down today; not in written form but in the hearts of his numerous followers who could not read or write either.
64 Dr. Md. Soliaman Ali Shorkar, Lalon Shaher Moromi Dorshon, (Mystic philosophy of Lalon), chapter 1: theory of knowledge: source of knowledge; page
55, Bangla academy, Dhaka; 1982.

35 | B e n g a l a r t the challenge is, that only architects need to create the reality, while all artists have a right to create the false or illusions. In another context, ‘Mer’ 65 in a small scale of the haphazard but intimate civic context of old Dhaka is an exemplification of the ‘beyond the ownership’ concept.
It is prominent that Bengal created architecture of freedom and sharing, to welcome everybody in an intimate cluster; indeed. Thus the traditional temples of
India and Persian mosques could not continue their rectitude or pride rather obtained a small scale and vernacular elements which was erected by local plasticity, (Bengal bricks) to defend this country’s most venerable climate.
In fact, sultanate architecture of medieval age was the first attempt to search the architecture of our own.
66 Again, the adages and maxims related to housing by Khona 67 proved contextual for this esteem, which again belongs to folklore as well as synonymous to vernacularism 68 in architecture.
Surmise
Considering all the pros and cons, it is sure that classification of Bengal art may not be considered as an Intellectualist art; rather it fits the allegations like Emotional and Decorative, is somewhat a dubious proposition. From the western sense, we get the idea that when colors get priority, it is called
Romanticism, while line gets priority; it is Classicism. According to this sense, Bengal art is the follower of the first one: emphasis on folk subjects compelled to depict human emotions, appreciations of collective feelings.
Unlike, western Romanticism, which means a thirst to know the unknown and unseen of far distant and fondling for archaeology: all are absent here.
In addition, Bengal art is a ‘Sense depended art’ or, ‘Art of consumption’ from an alternative point of view. For the traditional desserts (pitha) of
Bangladesh, we can say that the ingredient, rice; is used to prepare such menus; is also the main food of these people which they want to consume in a more artistic way when they like to celebrate any festival. They even decorate their fenestrations and floors by rice powder. This is something unique- Your food is your art; there is nothing intimate which is comparable to this relation. Again, the embellished blanket they design with colorful embroideries which gives warmth at night even though they don’t see its artistry in the darkness. Permeability of intimate scaled architecture,
65 An elevated spacious veranda without any fencing to serve the purpose for public resting and childish activity in front of a roadside private home.
66 Ahmed, Dr. Abu Sayeed M., Mosque architecture in Bangladesh; Dhaka,
Bangladesh: UNESCO, 2006. page188-91.
67 Ancient wise lady of Bengal, folk poet of an estimated time period which ranges from 4th to 12th century, her maxims are still popular among agricultural society of village.
68 Architecture without the architects.

Ar. S A Y E D A H M E D | 36 fashioning the dresses in simplest way, crafting the utensils and so on, are the other examples of compassions with life. Art is not additional to our lifestyle and is much traditional than innovative. This is somewhat referred to intuition and speculation above the known realm, what the Bengal artists acquired on their journey of fantasy; where the skill was always constant and resilient, not the individualities.
Special terms
Adam Surat
আদাম সুরাত
Babu
বাবু
Babui
বাবুই
Bachan
বচন
Bharat Mata
ভারত মাতা
Bongo-bhongo
বঙ্গ
ভঙ্গ
Durga
দুর্গা
Goon tana
গুন টানা
Haor
হাওর
Jagroto janata
জাগ্রত জনতা
Khona
খনা
Kirtinasha
কীর্তিনাশা
Kutum-kata
কুটুম কাটা
Lokkhi Sora
লক্ষ্মী
সরা
Mer
মের
Nakshi kantha
নকশি কাোঁথা
Nakshi pitha
নকশি পিঠা
Nobanna
নবান্ন
Oporajeyo bangla
অপরাজেয় বাাংলা
Pahela boishakh
পহেলা বৈশাখ
Pala
পাল
Patua
পটুয়া
Pitambar
পীতাম্বর
Poto chitro
পট
চিত্র
Probachan
প্রবচন

37 | B e n g a l a r t
Probad
প্রবাদ
Robi
রবি
Sangshaptok
সাংসপ্তক
Santal
সাওতাল
Sari
শাড়ি
Shantiniketon
শান্তিনিকেতন
Shilpachariya
শিল্পাচার্য
Shlok
শ্ল ক
Tepa putul
টেোঁপা পুতুল
Varendra
বরেন্দ্র
Vokti
ভক্তি
Wari-Bateshwar
উয়ারি
-
বটেশ্বর
Zokkha-Zokkhi
যক্ষা
-
যক্ষী
Author’s Biography
Sayed Ahmed (born in 1988, Narayangonj) is a Bangladeshi practicing architect, academician and social activist. He studied architecture from the first science and technology university of that country, SUST; Sylhet. He is now a lecturer in the department of architecture, Bangladesh University,
Dhaka; where he conducts art appreciation courses, design classes and seminars and also researches as a free scholar. He specializes cultural studies, philosophy of art and architectural history. Throughout his student life; he was engaged in different extra-curricular activities and valued culture as means to Bangladesh’s socio-cultural and architectural sphere of encouragement within South Asia. As a result; he is spending most of his time on researches like this (as architecture is not aloof from art) to find out
Bengal’s own identity which may appear unique in the field of art and architecture. His recent study published from Indonesia on spiritual search of art over Islamic architecture.