NARAIL: The 21st death anniversary of renowned artist SM Sultan was observed in a befitting manner on Saturday.

Narail district administration and Sultan Foundation chalked out different programs to mark the day.

The programs include placing of wreaths at the grave of SM Sultan, offering of Qurankhwani, milad mahfil and fateha, rally and art competition for children.

The legendary artist was born in Masimdia of Narial on August 10 in 1924.

On October 10 in 1994, Sheikh Mohammed Sultan, better known as SM Sultan, breathed his last at Jessore Combined Military Hospital.

His fame rests on his striking depictions of exaggeratedly muscular Bangladeshi peasants engaged in the activities of their everyday lives.

His first exhibition was a solo one in Shimla, India, in 1946. Next, after Partition, came two individual exhibitions in Pakistan: Lahore in 1948 and Karachi in 1949.

None of his artworks from this period survive, mainly due to Sultan's own indifference towards preserving his work.

For his achievement in fine arts, SM Sultan achieved prestigious awards of ‘Man of the Year’ from Cambridge University, ‘Man of the Achievement’ from Biographical Centre in New York and ‘Man of Asia’ from Asia Week newspaper.

He was also awarded with the Ekushey Padak in 1982; the Bangladesh Charu Shilpi Sangsad Award in 1986; and the Independence Day Award in 1993.

Sultan's drawings, such as his self-portrait, are characterized by their economy and compactness. The lines are powerful and fully developed. His early paintings were influenced by the Impressionists. In his oils he employed Van Gogh's impasto technique. His watercolors, predominantly landscapes, are bright and lively.

The themes of his paintings are nature and rural life. S Amjad Ali, writing in 1952 for Pakistan Quarterly, described Sultan as a “landscape artist”. Any human figures in his scenes were secondary. In Ali's view, Sultan painted from memory in a style that had no definite identity or origins.

BDST: 1834 HRS, OCT 10, 2015
SR