Samarjit Roy Choudhury tells on winning Ekushey Padak
The seasoned artist professor Samarjit Roy Choudhury has been honoured with the Ekushey Padak, the second highest civil award, as a recognition of his kaleidoscopic journey in art, spanning over five decades.
The artist along with 14 others received the award from the prime minister at the award awarding ceremony held at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium on Thursday. ‘Ekushey Padak is a great honour. I’m really happy to receive the award’, the delighted painter told New Age.
Samarjit Roy Choudhury was first introduced to fine arts during his childhood when he was a primary school student.
‘My fascination for art developed when I was a class four student. Moreover, my teacher at the school Bhubenshwar Chakrabarty was a good artist, who studied at the Calcutta Government Fine Arts School. I was truly inspired by him as well as another artist named Sachindra Kar,’ Choudhury added.
The zeal and passion that Choudhury developed in his early years made him determined to get admission into the then Dhaka Fine Arts Institute in 1955, causing much dissatisfaction to his father.
The five years at the institute, under famous artists and teachers like Zainul Abedin, Quamrul Hassan, Muhammad Kibria, Shafiuddin Ahmed and Anwarul Haque, paved the way of an artist for Choudhury.
Choudhury completed his major in Graphic Design (which was then known as Commercial Art) with a first class and joined the department as a faculty member four months after his graduation.
‘There were only two departments- drawing and painting and commercial art at that time. I, along with my friends, was eager to pursue drawing and painting, but Quamrul Hassan sir persuaded me to specialise in commercial art’, said Choudhury.
Choudhury, however, grew his keenness in graphic design gradually. But his passion for painting never left him and he consistently indulged himself in creative painting.
‘Throughout my life, I have painted. I have a special passion for oil painting and as a theme, I have always tried to work on folk motifs’, Choudhury said, who was much inspired by Quamrul Hassan in taking folk elements as the leitmotif of his works.
So far, the prolific artist has exhibited his works in many countries, including Bangladesh, America, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Iran.
Samarjit Roy Choudhury has also bagged prestigious awards such as Atish Dipankar Gold Medal in 2007 and Sultan Gold Medal in 2009. He was bestowed with a Life Time Achievement Award in 2013 by Berger Paints Bangladesh Limited and won the Shipakala Award 2013.
At present, Samarjit Roy Choudhury is working as a supernumerary professor at Graphic Design Department of Faculty of Fine Arts at Dhaka University.
-With New Age input
