Artist Debdas Chakraborty passes away

Renowned artist Debdas Chakraborty passed away yesterday. He was 75.
A painter of modern fine arts of Bangladesh, Debdas had been suffering from different medical complications for the past five years. He breathed his last at his Uttara residence at around 7:00pm.
He is survived by his two sons, relatives and a host of well-wishers.
His body will be kept in the mortuary at Birdem today and will be taken to the Institute of Fine Arts tomorrow at around 10:00am. He will then be carried to the Shaheed Minar so that people from all walks of life can pay their homage.
His body will then be donated to Ibrahim Medical College as per the artist's last wish.
Born in Faridpur (now Shariatpur) in 1933, the eminent artist graduated in painting from Dhaka Government College [Now Institute of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka.]
He was the senior designer at Information Directorate under the Ministry of Agriculture from 1958-70 as well as the assistant professor of Department of Fine Arts, University of Chittagong, from 1970-80.
Debdas also worked as a designer under eminent artist Qamrul Hasan at the information directorate of the temporary Bangladesh Government at Mujibnagar in 1971.
One of his posters played a great role in inspiring the freedom fighters during the Liberation War.
He received higher training in printmaking from Warsaw, Poland under the Polish government scholarship.
The veteran artist held seven solo and at least 16 group art exhibitions at home and abroad.
Several prestigious awards were conferred on him for his contribution in cultural arena, including the Ekushey Padak in 1990.
Debdas Chakraborty also won the first prize for painting at the international art workshop held at Warsaw, Poland in 1978.
Nature and people were the favourite topics of the artist, whose unique style in drawing added a different dimension to his creative brilliance.