Of fishermen and farmers

To commemorate Faiz Ahmed's birth, his nephew, Rumi Noman, is holding an exhibition of well-known artist Syed Jahangir, featuring mainly white and black pen-and-brush sketches -- along with coloured scenes of Bangladesh. Most of the sketches centre on the fishermen and farmers of Bangladesh. Jahangir also recalls the floods of Bangladesh in his work. The exhibition began on May 1 at Shilpangan Contemporary Art Gallery in Dhanmondi and will run for a week.

Jahangir says that he gave up abstraction when he realised that it did not cut much ice with art lovers. While indulging in his figurative work, he realised that Bangladesh was the most fertile subject for him to work on. “I was born and educated in Khulna, Satkhira in a village known as Tetulia,” he says. He then concentrated on Bangladeshi workers and their manner of making a livelihood.

“I'd often hire a boat for the Buriganga for the whole day, and paint. I've done hundreds of drawings and paintings on the river. The technique is different. None of the drawings -- done with brush, ink and pen – were preconceived”, he said.

“Many of my works are influenced by Zainul Abedin and Qamrul Hassan. Safiuddin Ahmed's prints on zinc also influenced me as did the works of Mohammed Kibria,” adds Jahangir.

Asked if adequate measures were taken by authorities to preserve the best works by Bangladeshi artists, Jahangir said, “I was associated with the Shilpakala Academy when SM Sultan was given due respect. Since the beginning of Shilpakala Academy, the artists from the-then East Pakistan were established there. Opportunities for artists to go abroad and the phenomenon of painters selling paintings at the galleries began at that time. Thus many of the paintings are going into the hands of foreign private collectors. I feel that some of the prolific works by young, talented painters should have been collected by the National Museum.”

He says that he's been a professional artist since 1955, with a 14-year creative hiatus when he was working with the Shilpakala Academy.