28 Facts About Zainul Abedin

Zainul Abedin, known as Shilpacharya was a Bangladeshi painter.

Zainul Abedin became well known in 1944 through his series of paintings depicting some of the great famines in Bengal during its British colonial period.

Zainul Abedin's homeland honored him with the title "Shilpacharya" "Great teacher of the arts" for his artistic and visionary attributes.

Zainul Abedin was the pioneer of the modern art movement that took place in Bangladesh and was rightly considered by Syed Manzoorul Islam as the founding father of Bangladeshi modern arts, soon after Bangladesh earned the status of an independent republic.

Zainul Abedin was born at Kendua in Kishoreganj mohokuma of Mymensingh district on 29 December 1914.

Many of his works framed Brahmaputra and a series of watercolors that Zainul Abedin did as his tribute to the river earned him the Governor's gold medal in an all-India exhibition in 1938.

In 1933, Zainul Abedin was admitted to the Government School of Art in Calcutta.

Zainul Abedin was the first Muslim student to obtain first class distinction from the school.

Zainul Abedin was dissatisfied with the oriental style and the limitations of European academic style and this led him towards realism.

Zainul Abedin worked in the Pakistani government for a while.

Zainul Abedin taught at the institute and among his students was Pakistani artist Mansur Rahi.

Zainul Abedin taught Bangladeshi artists such as Monirul Islam and Mohammad Kibria.

Zainul Abedin's famine painting set which, exhibited in 1944, brought him even more critical acclaim.

Zainul Abedin made his own ink by burning charcoal and used it on cheap, ordinary packing paper.

Zainul Abedin depicted those starving people who were dying by the road-side.

Zainul Abedin was more socially aware focusing on the working class and their struggles.

Zainul Abedin was an influential member of the Calcutta Group of progressive artists and was friends with Shahid Suhrawardy and Ahmed Ali of the Progressive Writers' Movement.

Zainul Abedin painted the 1970 Bhola cyclone that devastated East Pakistan.

Zainul Abedin was involved in the Bengali Language Movement of East Pakistan.

Zainul Abedin was involved in the Bangladesh liberation war movement.

Zainul Abedin was at the forefront of the cultural movement to re-establish the Bengali identity, marginalized by the Pakistan government.

In 1969, Zainul Abedin painted a scroll using Chinese ink, watercolor and wax named Nabanna.

In 1974, Zainul Abedin received Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Delhi, India.

In 1982,17 of the 70 pictures housed in Zainul Abedin Sangrahashala were stolen.

Zainul Abedin's famous painting "Study of a Crow" in the collection of Professor Ahmed Ali is listed in the book Arts in Pakistan by Jalaluddin Ahmed, 1952, including an exclusive monologue on him published by FOMMA, Karachi, along with his many Famine Series paintings of 1943.

Zainul Abedin developed lung cancer and died on 28 May 1976 in Dhaka.

Zainul Abedin was buried beside the Dhaka University Central Mosque.

Zainul Abedin's birthday was celebrated in Bangladesh, with a festival in University of Dhaka and children's art competition in Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Sangrahashala.