An artist's fascination with historical personalities

Artist Apurba Kanti Das' first solo painting exhibition, titled “Portraits: Riddle of Characters”, is now on at the La Galerie of Alliance Française de Dhaka in Dhanmondi.
Apurba is a promising painter who likes to make portraits of renowned men and women representing different eras -- people who have reformed and reshaped humanity. The painter is seemingly fascinated with portraits, which is considered to be one of the oldest forms of art. He says, “Since childhood, I have had a great respect for historic characters who have enriched our world. I not only emphasise on external features, but also focus on their disposition.”
The painter's close study of visage has helped him make a number of quality portraits. He has managed to capture unique expressions of the iconic figures in the portraits.
The portraits on display are of world renowned painters Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Paul Gauguin, Marc Chagall; Bangladeshi painters Zainul Abedin, Quamrul Hassan and SM Sultan; Bengali poets Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Jibanananda Das and Shamsur Rahman; writer Syed Mujtaba Ali; scientists Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking; architect Louis Isadore Kahn; American poet Allen Ginsberg; English novelist Charles Dickens; singers and lyricists Jim Morrison, Bob Marley; sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar and filmmaker Satyajit Ray.
Apurba has also done portraits of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Sir Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and others.
Those who are good at drawing, usually excel in portraits. There is a serious shortage of portrait painters in the contemporary local art scene. Our painters, for a number of reasons, do not show enough interest in this drawing-based form. Hopefully, talented young artists will show more interest in drawing, which is perhaps one of the basics of art.
Apurba Kanti Das completed his BFA from Department of Drawing and Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Dhaka University in 2007.
The exhibition was recently inaugurated by noted media personality Asaduzzaman Noor, MP and artist professor Jamal Ahmed.
The exhibition is on till October 13.