Safiuddin Ahmed

Safiuddin Ahmed (23 June 1922 – 20 May 2012) was a Bangladeshi artist.^[1]

Biography

Ahmed was born 23 June 1922 in Bhabanipur, Kolkata. His father, Matinuddin Ahmed, was a sub-registrar of the land office of the Government of Bengal and his mother, Bibi Jamila Khatun, was a housewife. For three generations his joint family had lived in his paternal homestead in Bhabanipur. His paternal grandfather, Aminuddin Ahmed, was a popular doctor in Bhabanipur. Aminuddin Ahmed was known as "Bachu Daktar" by the local residents and the road in front of his house was named "Bachu Daktar Lane" after his death under the initiative of the Kolkata municipality.^{[citation needed]}

Education

Ahmed's father died when he was young. He grew up under the care of his paternal uncles and his mother. In 1936 he was admitted to the Calcutta Government Art School, a rarity for children from Muslim families.^{[citation needed]} At the time, education in art school was generally viewed as a vocational education in Bengali society. Ahmed came into proximity with many people while studying from 1930 to 1942. In 1958 he completed the diploma courses in printmaking from the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London with distinction.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Ahmed was the pioneer of printmaking in Bangladesh. He, along with Zainul Abedin and others, played an important role in the foundation of the Dhaka Art College (now the Institute of Fine Arts of Dhaka University.^[2]).

Way of work

Ahmed spent most hours practising art through studies outside of work and in Prohlad Karmakar’s studio. In one notable painting while at work, he took the theme from his visual experience and instead of imitating as accurately as possible (in the tradition of Bewick) he raised it above mere narration by adding his own perception and variation in the etching. This was the first indication of his originality. The balance and harmony in his works was extraordinary.

Contribution to art

One of the great achievements of Ahmed is that he helped raise the profile of a discipline considered of secondary importance by adopting it as the main medium for his creative works. In doing so, he helped printmaking reach a status equal to that of painting and sculpture. Moreover, he inspired many artists from the Indian subcontinent to use the medium of printmaking.

Style of art

Though Ahmed had been born and brought up in the city he selected particularly remote areas of Radha Vangaand Jharkhand - specifically, the landscape and life of the people there - as the setting of his pictures. Surprisingly, Kolkata is absent from his pictures. Secondly, though his painting and printmaking emerged from directly visual perception, they are not merely lifeless descriptions. For instance, in the oil paintings Sunlit Hut, Dumka-1, Dumka-2 and Dumka ShalForest done in 1946, the treatment is neither smooth nor finished in the Victorian academic method, rather, he applied the pigment in strokes like the Impressionists; he did not create sfumato by mixing paints. As a result, the colours appear vigorous and fresh - in the light and shade of the picture one can actually feel the visual sensations produced by vibration.

Death

He died at Square Hospital in Dhaka on 20 May 2012.

References

• Arts and Craft, ISBN 984300000965