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“Great Masters of Bangladesh: Safiuddin Ahmed” launched

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Art & Culture Report:
Bengal Foundation and Skira Editore of Milan, Italy jointly launched their first book of the series titled Great Masters - “Great Masters of Bangladesh: Safiuddin Ahmed” at a function held at Bengal Shilpalaya in the city recently.
In the book launching ceremony, Justice Md Habibur Rahman unveiled cover of the book as the chief guest, while eminent educationist Professor Emeritus Anisuzzaman was also present as special guest on the occasion.
Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Prof Syed Azizul Haque, Dr Kaiser Haq, poet and Professor of English Department of Dhaka University, printmaker Ahmed Nazir, son of Safiuddin Ahmed, Abul Khair Litu, Chairman of Bengal Foundation, Luva Nahid Chowdhury, Director General of Bengal Foundation, Abul Hasnat, Editor of monthly Bengali literary magazine Kali O Kalam, Subir Chowdhury, Director of the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts, took part in the discussion at the book launching ceremony.
Artist Safiuddin is a choosy artist and he deliberated work in search of perfection. He is now bed-ridden and has been suffering from old age complications for a long time. He was born in 1922 in Kolkata, India. He was a student of the then Calcutta Government School of Art and graduated from the institute in 1942. After 1947, Safiuddin left Kolkata for Dhaka and got involved in a movement to set up the first art institute in the then East Pakistan. He was a friend and colleague of Zainul Abedin, one of the founders of Dhaka Art College.
Some of his outstanding achievements as a young artist included the President’s Gold Medal in 1945 by Academy of Fine Arts in Kolkata, first prize in the category of black and white in International Contemporary Art Exhibition in New Delhi in 1946, first prize in the category of black and white (etching and drawing) in Inter-Asian Art Exhibition in New Delhi in 1947, Patna Maharaja’s Gold Medal in 1947. He is a proud recipient of the Ekushey Padak and Swadhinata Puroshkar. n