Bangladeshi women artists have played a significant role in the development of art in Bangladesh, despite facing various social and cultural challenges. This article provides an overview of the history and contributions of women artists in Bangladesh, from the colonial era to the modern period.
Historical context Traditional Role of Women in Bengali Art Traditionally, women in Bengali society have been involved in various forms of folk art and craft, such as:
Pottery Weaving Alpana (floor painting) Nakshikantha (embroidered quilt making)
However, women were generally not part of the formal artisan tradition or guilds in pre-modern Bengal. In terms of artists, the first female painter mentioned in Sanskrit literature is Chitralekha. She had run of the inner chambers of the Bana king of Pragjyotishpura. The painting skills of the companions of Radha find repeated mention in Vaishnava literature.
Colonial era The arrival of the British in Bengal created new opportunities for women to engage in fine arts. During the 19th century, as art became separated from hereditary family workshops, women from upper-class families began to enter the arena of fine arts alongside men.
Unlike traditional artisan castes, such as chitrakar (painter) or malakar (garland maker), the profession of artist coincided with the colonization of the British. It appeared to be the result of the exhibitions, art organizations, art educational institutions and the writings on art.
Women in the Fine Art Exhibition Twenty-five women, most of them Bengali, participated in the 1879 Calcutta Fine Art Exhibition. In 1939 women were provided the opportunity to enroll as students in the Calcutta Government Art School and they took it with pleasure. Aparna Ray was a student of the first batch of women and went on to become a teacher at the same school. Yet we meet with women prior to the professional entrance of women in the field of art who had worked with the materials and technique of professional artists and also expressed their individual qualities in their work. Needless to say not be said that they practiced art alongside their family activities. Perhaps that is why there is distinctiveness in their work. Moreover, the women's art that was practiced so far was created fora different world and had different objectives. Thus, the art of these women artists shows the desire to find their own space within these contradictions. It must be remembered that the entrance into this new field was for women almost like an act of trespassing because it created an opportunity to encounter the public world outside the premises of the household.
Modern era
We know the names of a few women artists. Yet in most cases we hardly see works of art to go with the artists. The reason is that women have created art as a hobby along with their other family responsibilities. They were in most cases not solely devoted to art. Thus, the number of work they produced was comparatively much less than that of males. It is therefore difficult to forma clear view of their work. We may hear about their work but there is very little scope of viewing their work. That is why the work of women artists is mostly unknown, unrecognized, unanalyzed and unevaluated. When woman proves her extraordinary qualities, her personality overwhelms her work and becomes more important. Her work becomes only a facet of her personality. All of this has to be considered when the works of women artists are evaluated, or else the work of half the population of Bengal, and the world will be neglected. Most women artists come from educated upper or middle-class families.
After the partition of India in 1947, what is the present Institute of Fine Art under the University of Dhaka was founded as the 'Government Institute of Arts' in 1948. The first five women admitted to this institution in the 1954–55 session were Tahera Khanam, Rowshan Ara, Hasina Ali, Jubaida Akter Khatun and Syeda Moyeena Ahsan. Except Moyeena Ahsan all the others completed their five-year course. All these women came from urban and enlightened families except for Jubaida Akter. It is known that there was never any opposition from their families for setting off in the world of art. Tahera Khanam later married the famous artist Qayyum Chowdhury and continues to paint (fig. 1.15). It must be admitted that these women must have been very courageous and self-confident to disregard the curious gaze of society and take up the study of such an unusual subject. It is also true that later on women who did study at art institutions did not apply their training to visibly creative activity. Many did not complete their academic studies. It does not seem easy to combine the social and familial responsibilities of women with mainstream art practice. Thus only the women who have dispensed with social and family life and only as long as they have done so have they been able to contribute to mainstream art. In this respect Novera Ahmed is an exceptional personality of this country. She returned to the country after finishing her diploma in sculpture from England in 1956. She practiced sculpture which was not only not in circulation; it could also cause religious controversy. Sculpture came a long way with her sincerity and dedication. She researched into the uncommon material of cement and iron rod. Moreover, she conducted many experiments with folk subject and form (fig. 1.14). The first sculpture exhibition, the first outdoor sculpture and creating the first relief mural on a public edifice in Dhaka all goes to her credit. She was also involved in creating the national Shaheed Minar, monument to the martyrs of the Language Movement. She caused these revolutionary incidents to happen in Dhaka between 1956 and 1960 and possibly left for West Pakistan due to the lack of patronage. However, the combination of the folk trend with internationalism and her clear concept of the contemporary western art world gave her the boldness to step on the threshold of many new doors. Perhaps because she grew up in a truly international and enlightened environment, her identity and her patriotic ideas were not burdened by the shackles of inferiority. Moreover, as a woman she did not have the pressure to achieve social recognition and professional success. This is perhaps why she could so spontaneously continue in her experiments. She is the first modern sculptor of Bangladesh. The teachers and administration of the government art institute was still very wary of introducing sculpture in the curriculum in fear that people would begin to think that they were encouraging un-Islamic practices in a Muslim country. The first woman to have a solo painting exhibition in Dhaka was Durre Khanam. She was better known as Rumi Islam because of her marriage to the artist, Aminul Islam. Later they were divorced. Her exhibition was held in 1960 two years after completing her education at the Institute of Fine Art. This exhibition featured works in the medium of oil and tempera and the paintings showed a clear bend towards abstraction (fig. 1.16). The exhibition was highly acclaimed by Zainul Abedin, A.L. Khatib and Sadeq Khan. Her work showed great promise but she later completely disappeared from the art world of Bangladesh. We notice in both the cases of Novera Ahmed and Rumi Islam that they entered the world of male-centric art even though they were women. Great talent, firmness and dedication must have followed them in their footsteps. Yet as they went considerably against social mores to enter this male controlled realm, they could not last there for very long. Similarly, the new horizons that they pointed to and their historical importance were not to be evaluated by patriarchal society.
Notable artists
Pre-Partition Era (Before 1947) Girmdramohini Dasi (1858–1924) Girindramohini Dasi was born in Kolkata. Her father was Haranchandra Mitra. She wrote poetry and painted. She was accomplished in painting divinities and landscapes. Lady Minto, wife of the Viceroy saw one of her paintings and sent it to Australia to a painting exhibition. Her paintings were reproduced in her own books of poetry and in Bharati, Manashiand Marmabani journals.
Sucharu Devi (1874–1959)
She learnt oil painting from a European woman teacher called Short. After her marriage to Maharaja Sriramchandra Bhanj Deo she became more enthusiastic about art and gained experience about western art in Europe. She was adept at painting landscapes in oil. In a collection of paintings called Bhakti-Arghashe (fig. 1.10) Painting by illustrated her father's childhood. She Sunayani Devi expressed the grief of the death of her husband and son and the pain of her own lonely life in her paintings...
Sunayani Devi (1875–1962)
The Indian Society of Oriental Art organized a number of exhibitions of her paintings in Europe but she had no shows at home during her lifetime.
Meherbanu Khanam (1885–1925)
Shukhalata Rao (1886–1969)
Hasina Khanam (1892-?) Hasina Khanam has been mentioned as the first Muslim woman artist in the Charitabhidhan published by Bangla Academy. Some watercolors and sketches done by her were published in Sawgat, Basumati journals.
Pratima Devi (1893–1969)
Shanta Devi (1893–1984) Shanta Devi was born in Kolkata. Her father was Ramananda Chatterjee editor of the journals Prabasi, Modern Review and Bishal Bharat and her mother was Monorama Devi. She began to write and paintfrom her childhood due to the family environment. She learnt painting under Abanindranath and Nandalal Bose. Later on in Santiniketan she studied painting supervised by Nandalal. There she also studied the technique of oil painting under Andre Karpelles. Shanta Devi painted in the Indian style but the subject she selected reflected her originality (fig. 1.12). She played the esraj, wrote and stitched kantha(quilted embroidery). Her paintings were exhibited and won awards in Kolkata, Madras and Yangon. She was nearly ninety years old when her paintings and other art pieces were exhibited at the Birla Academy.
Shukumari Devi (died 1938) Shukumari Devi's father was the zamindar of Borodia of Chanpur-Comilla, Ramkumar Majumdar and her mother was Anandamoyi Devi. Shukumari was widowed at the age of fourteen and three years later she went to Santiniketan at the encouragement of Kalimohan Ghose of Sriniketan. Because of her skill in needlework and alpana Rabindranath directed Nandalal to employ Shukumari as the teacher of needle art in Kala Bhavana. Additionally, she also learnt to paint from Nandalal. Episodes from the Puranas, gods and goddesses were the prime subject of her paintings. Kamal Sarkar notes that her paintings executed in bright colors and bold lines are slightly decorative. She was also highly skilled in alpana and other crafts.
Prakriti Chattapadhyay (1895–1934) Prakriti Chattapadhyay was the daughter of the artist Jaladhichandra (fig. 1.12) Shanta Mukhapadhyay who was the grandson of Jatindramohan Tagore. She painted scenes Devi, Child with a Doll from Krishnalila, Bhuddha's life and the poetry and stories of Rabindranath Tagore in watercolors. She was skilled in gesso painting, painting on silk, lacquer work and enameling. Her embroidery and alpana were featured in publications.
Indurani Sinha (1905-?) Indurani Sinha was born in Kolkata. Her father was Akshay Kumar Mitraandmother Rajlakshmi Devi. She was married to the artist Satishchandra Sinha in 1920 and nearly sixteen years after that she began to practice art supervised by her husband. She worked in oils, watercolor and pastels. She was adept in painting landscapes, village people, and nude and draped figures. In 1941 she established a school of art for women.
Gouri Bhanja (1907–1998)
Indiradevi Roy Chowdhury (1910–1950)