Qayyum Chowdhury | |
---|---|
কাইয়ুম চৌধুরী | |
Born |
Feni,
Bengal Presidency, British India | 9 March 1932
Died | 30 November 2014
Dhaka, Bangladesh | (aged 82)
Nationality | Bangladeshi |
Known for | Painting, book design and illustration |
Awards | Ekushey Padak (1984) |
Qayyum Chowdhury (9 March 1932 – 30 November 2014) [1] [2] was a Bangladeshi painter. Along with Zainul Abedin, Quamrul Hassan and Safiuddin Ahmed, he is considered as a first generation artist of Bangladesh. [3] He was awarded the Ekushey Padak in 1984 and the Independence Day Award in 2014 by the Government of Bangladesh. [4] [5]
Chowdhury was born on 9 March 1932 in Feni. His father, Abdul Quddus Chowdhury, came from a landlord family and was a cooperative-bank official. Because of transferring job, Chowdhury lived in Chittagong, Comilla, Narail, Sandwip, Noakhali, Feni, Faridpur and Mymensingh in his boyhood. [6] His uncles, Mohtasambillah Chowdhury and Aminul Islam Chowdhury were writers. [7] In 1949, he completed his matriculation from Mymensingh City Collegiate School. [6] He graduated from Dhaka Art College (now Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka) in 1954. [2]
Chowdhury joined Dhaka Art College as a lecturer in 1957. [2] He then took a job at the newly established Design Centre to work under Quamrul Hassan. Within a year he joined the then Pakistan Observer where he served as the chief artist. He also started working for the Observer group's other publications namely Chitrali, a cine magazine and Purbadesh, a news magazine. [7] He went back to Dhaka Art College in 1965. [2] He was promoted to the position of assistant professor in 1970, to associate professor in 1986 and to professor in 1991. [6] He retired from the organization in 1994 but he kept teaching in the institute until 2002. [6]
Chowdhury's early work include "My Sister" (oil painting, 1954), "Pawnbroker" (oil painting, 1956), "Boat in Moonlight" (watercolor, 1956) and Self-portrait (oil painting, 1959). [6] His later work were "Boat" (pen and ink, 2001), "Setting Sun" (pen and ink, 2001), "Secret Talk" (acrylic, 2004) and "Worried" (acrylic, 2004). [8] He held four solo exhibitions. [9] [10]
Chowdhury began designing book covers by working on Zahir Raihan's book "Shesh Bikeler Meye". [2] He designed the cover of Shamsur Rahman (poet)'s first poetry collection, Prothom Gaan Dwityo Mrittyur Agey, and several books of Syed Shamsul Haque. [2]
Chowdhury was a member of Bangladesh Bank's currency note design committee and mural committee and designed several currency notes in circulation. [2]
Chowdhury had been involved with daily Prothom Alo since its inception in 1998. [2] He was the convenor of the Charu Karu Shilpi Songram Parishad during the liberation war in 1971. [11]
In 1960, Chowdhury married Tahera Khanum, (1935–2021) an artist who was one of the first four girls to get admitted to the Art College in 1954. [7] Together they had a son Moinul Islam Zaber. [13]
On 30 November 2014, Chowdhury fell sick while delivering his speech on the fourth-day of Bengal Foundation organized classical music festival in Bangladesh Army Stadium. He had been taken to Combined Military Hospital, where he was declared dead. [2] [14]
A documentary film on the life and work of Qayyum Chowdhury was directed and scripted by Fahmida Akhter (as "Fahmida Munni") in 2004 entitled "Nishorger Ankiey" (2004, Ode to Nature : Portrait of an Artist), produced by Bengal Foundation. [15], [16]