A three-day grand painting exhibition featuring paintings on Tagore’s creativity and literary works, along with replicas of Tagore’s paintings continued at the National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, as part of the year-long joint celebrations by India and Bangladesh to mark the sesquicentennial anniversary of Nobel Laureate Poet Rabindranath Tagore.
The exhibition included 45 replicas of Tagore paintings, 150 paintings by prominent and promising artists of Bangladesh on the theme of Tagore and 96 paintings by children, an outcome of a nation-wide competition.
In one of the replicas titled ‘Self-portrait’, done in ink and brush in 1342 Bangla calendar year (1935), Tagore depicts his portrait in monochromic colour while he was at Chandannagor in West Bengal.
Other replicas of iconic artwork including ‘Nude Study’, ‘The Couple’, ‘Three witches from Macbeth’, ‘Portrait of a Lady’, ‘Faces of an Image’ proved Tagore’s skill as an artist.
Moreover, the art show depicts imaginary artworks on Tagore’s works by renowned artists like Qayyum Chowdhury, Rafiqun Nabi, Hashem Khan, Abu Taher, Monirul Islam, Shahabuddin Ahmed, Shishir Bhattacharya and others.
One of the paintings ‘Dirgakal Onabrishtite’ by Gulshan Hossain is done on the Tagore poem ‘Dirgakal Onabrishtite’, and highlights an urge for rainfall in drought. Done in mixed medium of oil and acrylic, the artist depicts a portrait of Tagore, while a draught-like ambience is portrayed on the canvas using monochromic and gherua colours.
Najib Mohammad’s devotional painting portrays an imaginary scene from Tagore’s poem ‘Parichay’ while Zahid Mustafa’s fabulous acrylic painting is done on Tagore’s timeless song ‘Amari parano jaha chahe’.
Abdul Mannan’s mind-glowing painting titled ‘Dhaner Shishe Shishir Bindu’ shows dew drops on the leaves of paddy during twilight, also drawn from Tagore’s literature.
Earlier, finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith handed over crests and certificates among 96 child artist winners, between ages three and 17, previously selected from a total of 1200 artworks submitted in five categories.
Salvation International School’s A-levels’ student Razin Mustafa Dipro clinched first prize, in the 15 to 17 age group. Nalanda Bidyalaya’s class one student Writi Nefertiti won first prize in the three to five age group for her poster colour artwork on Tagore’s poem ‘Amader Chhoto Nadi Chole Banke Banke’.
The three day exhibition ended on Tuesday.
-With New Age input
