Unit Two: Art and Craft

Exploring the intersections of aesthetics, creativity, and cultural expression through various artistic media and traditions.

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Lessons in This Unit

Aesthetic beauty
Lesson 1: What is Beauty?

Exploring philosophical and cultural concepts of beauty across different societies and historical periods.

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Folk musicians
Lesson 2: Folk Music

Examining traditional musical expressions and their role in cultural preservation and identity.

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Art exhibition
Lesson 3: Art

Understanding visual arts as a form of communication, expression, and social commentary.

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Pottery craft
Lesson 4: Craft

Investigating traditional and contemporary craft techniques and their cultural significance.

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Lesson 1: What is Beauty?

Concepts of beauty

Perspectives on Beauty

Beauty is easy to appreciate but difficult to define. As we look around, we discover beauty in pleasurable objects and sights- in nature, in the laughter of children, in the kindness of strangers. But when asked to define it, we run into difficulties. Does beauty have an independent, objective identity? Is it universal, or is it shaped by individual perceptions? Does it truly lie in the eye of the beholder? -we ask ourselves. Throughout history, poets and artists have described beauty in different ways. Poets make use of words to paint images of beauty, while artists create representations of beauty using their creative faculties. Here are two poems that explore the theme of beauty. While Lord Byron (1788-1824) finds perfect beauty in a woman he idealizes, Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) asserts that beauty is inseparable from truth.

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Lesson 2: Folk Music

Folk instruments

Folk Music

Folk music consists of songs and music of a community that are not influenced by any sophisticated musical rules or any standard musical styles. Bangladesh has a heritage of rich folk music which includes both religious and secular songs. Folk music may be described as the music of the ancient times that sprang from the heart of a community, based on their natural style of expression uninfluenced by the rules of classical music or modern popular songs. Any arrangement of sound created by the combination of tune, voice and instrument/dance may be described as music. Folk music is the combination of song, tune and dance that originate from the traditional culture of ordinary people (the folk). For example, Baul songs are a combination of tune, music and dance that are associated with the Baul tradition in Bengal. Folk music has the following characteristics: (i) It is composed by rural folk on the basis of ancient rules transmitted orally; (ii) these ancient rules of music have not been influenced by classical or modern music; (iii) folk songs may be sung in groups or individually; (iv) no regular practice is required for folk music: (v) it is composed and performed by illiterate or semi-literate people: (vi) it is a spontaneous expression of feelings and thoughts in easy language, local dialect, and simple tune; (vii) both words and tune are appealing; (viii) despite its universal appeal it uses local dialect; (ix) it depends upon nature and the rural environment; (x) it is an explicit manifestation of the joys and sorrows of daily life: (xi) it uses simple and natural rhythms; and (xii) it contains a strong emotive expression of human love and separation. In Bangladesh, folk music has great variety, with songs composed on culture, festivals, views of life, natural beauty, rivers and rural and riverine life. These songs are also about social inequality and poverty, about the material world and the supernatural. Mystical songs have been composed using the metaphors of rivers and boats. Since the country is basically riverine, the Bhatiyali forms an important genre of folk music. Nature plays a role in providing the content and rhythm of folk music. The folk music of Bangladesh varies from region to region, reflecting changes in the natural environment and the dialects people use. Thus, there are the northern Bhawaiya, the eastern Bhatiyali and the southwestern Baul songs. The culture and the lifestyle of the different ethnic minorities, such as the Chakmas, Manipuris, Santals or Tripuris, have also influenced folk music. Their interaction with Bengali culture and lifestyle over the years has been clearly reflected in the richness of our folk music. Folk songs may be sung individually or in chorus. Folk songs sung individually include Baul, Bhatiyali, Murshidi and Marfati, while songs sung in chorus include Kabigan, Leto, Alkap and Gambhira. Some songs are regional in character, but others are common to both Bangladesh and West Bengal. Similarly, some songs belong distinctively to one religious community, the Hindus or the Muslims; others cross religious boundaries. Some songs belong exclusively to men, others to women, while some are sung by both men and women. Thus, only women compose and sing Bratagan and Meyeli Git, but both men and women participate in the old practice of 'roof-beating' songs that are sung while beating down and firming rooftops.


Folk music represents the musical traditions of communities, typically passed down orally rather than through written notation. It often reflects the life, work, and struggles of ordinary people and serves as a vehicle for cultural transmission.

Lalon Shah

Lalon Shah (1774-1890) is best known as an icon of the Baul tradition in Bengal, although he was also a philosopher, thinker and social reformer. He preached religious tolerance and rejected social differences based on class, caste and creed. He also believed that a search for truth should begin with the body, which reflects the mystery of creation. Although Lalon's songs are admired for the profound philosophical and mystical insights they offer, he did not receive any formal education. Not much is known about his early life. A popular story about him which many believe to be true — is that while on a pilgrimage to a holy place, Lalon. who was born a Hindu, contracted smallpox and was abandoned by his companions. A Muslim fakir, Siraj Sain, picked him up and took him to his own house where he nursed him back to health. When Lalon returned home, his family refused to take him in as he had lived in a Muslim household. So, Lalon returned to Siraj Sain and took up a life of devotion and asceticism under his guidance. After the death of Sainji, Lalon set up an akhrah or monastery in Chheuriya near Kushtia. It soon attracted admirers and mystics in search of salvation who became initiated into Baui asceticism and became his disciples. As Lalon began writing and composing songs, which his disciples sang with the accompaniment of ektara or dotara. his fame spread to faraway places. Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam were among those who admired him and were influenced by his shahajiya philosophy (the attainment of the self through the simple truths that reside in one's own body and soul—not outside which can be reached through sadhana or meditation). Many of his disciples also became famous for their songs. They included Kangal Harinath Majumder, Pagla Kanai and Dudu Shah.

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Lesson 3: Art

Art exhibition

Art

Art is generally understood as an expression of human imagination and creative skills in a range of activities including painting, drawing, sculpture and architecture. The aim of art is to evoke feelings and emotions that are considered aesthetic— that is concerned with beauty but art also can be a form of social commentary. A painting of sunset over the sea glorifies nature, but one that shows a war-ravaged town can convey a sense of anguish. Throughout the world people appreciate art for its power to affect them in creative ways. As the famous painter Pablo Picasso said, “the purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls." Art in our country has a long history. It has been practiced in households in the form of pottery, nakshikantha or embroidered quilt, alpana or intricate, mostly floral designs in rice paste done on clay yards and shokher harhi or painted earthen pots (and their lids). These are examples of folk art. But there is another form of art which is called modern art, which owes its origin to the industrial revolution in Western Europe in the middle of-19th century and the changes it brought in technology, education, manufacturing and communication. Modern art rejected traditional art forms and began to create new types of artistic expression using styles, techniques, colours and materials that could adequately reflect the spirit of the time and the profound changes in human thought. The beginning of modern art practices in our country' date from 1948. when the great artist Zainul Abedin (1914-1976), with the help of some colleagues set up an institute of art in Dhaka (now the Faculty of Fine Art, University of Dhaka). As it began to offer art education, the institute drew together a number of talented teachers and students who contributed to the development of modern art almost from scratch. But within a decade, artists were reflecting most recent trends and styles in their work such as expressionism and abstract expressionism while maintaining a close contact with the traditions of folk art. Zainul had earned all-India fame for his Famine Sketches, a series of haunting sketches based on the Bengal famine of 1943 which took hundreds of thousands of lives. His watercolors, scroll paintings and drawings inspire our artists even today. The other prominent artists who had major contributions to the spectacular rise of our contemporary art include Qamrul Hassan, SM Sultan, Safiuddin Ahmed, Abdur Razzak, Qayyum Chowdhury, Murtaza Baseer, Aminul Islam, Syed Jahangir, Debdas Chakravarty, Novera Ahmed and Muhammad Kibria. The war of liberation and the independence of the country in 1971 inspired our artists to continue the efforts of the earlier artists to explore the limits of art and create new expressive modes. For the next four decades, art in our country saw many experimentations. Artists dealt with new ideas such as installation art and graphic art; and reshaped older, traditional art forms. If you visit any art gallery or art exhibition, you will find how our art reflects our changing realities in fascinating and insightful ways.


Art is a diverse range of human activities involving creative imagination, aimed at expressing technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of what constitutes art, and ideas have changed over time.

SM SULTAN

Sheikh Mohammed Sultan, widely known as SM Sultan, was a distinguished Bangladeshi painter renowned for his distinctive personal and artistic style. Born on August 1923, in Jessore, Bangladesh, Sultan is often remembered as a bohemian artist who traveled extensively. Despite his unique vision, he only achieved widespread recognition later in life. His work was first showcased in Dhaka in 1976, and a significant retrospective organized by the Goethe Institut, Dhaka in 1987 solidified his status as a major artist. Despite coming from an underprivileged background, S M Sultan made his mark in the art world through sheer passion and his ability to build enduring connections. Although his family could not afford his education at the Calcutta School of Arts, he received a special recommendation that allowed him to study there for three years. His very simple but highly philosophic art, which features nature and the people of Bangladesh, has become the prime source of inspiration for the new generation of painters. Sultan's characters were farmers, rural women, children, animals, and even pets. The main feature of his paintings is the muscular farmers, with extensive muscles and godly physical stature which make his farmers larger than life. Sultan took little care of his finished works, and many are lost. He was unconcerned about using materials that would preserve. Sultan's song was never about a legacy of artwork but of ideas. Apart from being awarded prestigious awards, accolades, and being featured in top art institutions, Sultan received wide press coverage and laudatory critical reviews in renowned newspapers like the New York Times, Washington Post, The Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, and many more. He became internationally acclaimed as a great painter of classic dimensions. Sultan received the Ekushey Padak, Swadhinata Padak, Bangladesh Charu Shilpi Sangsad Padak, and other prestigious awards.

Novera Ahmed

Novera Ahmed was the pioneer of modern sculpting in Bangladesh. She is also one of the most under- and misrepresented artists in the country. When describing the works of the first modern Bangladeshi sculptor Novera Ahmed, Shilpacharja Zainul Abedin proclaimed "What Novera is doing now will take us a long time to understand- she is that kind of artist." This aptly describes her progressive thoughts in the field of sculpture. Novera Ahmed was born in a culturally inclined family in Chittagong, where she was inspired by her mother's skills in making dolls' houses out of clay and became fascinated with working with three-dimensional forms. As Ahmed was educated in London and Florence, her sculptural vocabulary was based on a combination of western ideas and folk traditions. Many of her artefacts were based on village lives and folk motifs, of which she was a keen observer. She also incorporated Buddhist themes in her works, and developed an individual style that depicted the experiences of women. In August 1960, Novera Ahmed had her first solo exhibition organized on the ground floor of Central Public Library (now Dhaka University Library). It was the first-ever solo sculpture exhibition by any sculptor of Bangladesh (East Pakistan back then). It was inaugurated by General Azam Khan of the Pakistan Army, who was so impressed with her work that he gave her a grant of ৳10,000 to promote sculpture as an art form. She used cement, wood, plaster and stone for the material for her sculptures. In the early 1960s, upon the Pakistan Art Council's invitation, she moved to West Pakistan and produced many works there. In 1962, she traveled to Bombay to learn Bharatanatyam, and a year later moved to Paris where she remained for the rest of her life. She lived in Thailand from 1968to 1970 and had her second solo exhibition in Bangkok's Alliance Française in 1970. At that time, she was using remains from plane crashes of American airplanes from the Vietnam War. Novera Ahmed was one of the original designers of the Shaheed Minar, in which she collaborated with Hamidur Rahman. She was awarded the Ekushey Padak in 1997 in absentia, and an exhibition was arranged from her works left behind in Dhaka in April-May, 1998.

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Lesson 4: Craft

Pottery craft

Craft

While art is often created for aesthetic or conceptual purposes, craft typically emphasizes functionality alongside beauty. Crafts are usually associated with particular materials (clay, glass, wood, metal, fiber) and require specialized techniques.

While art is considered intuitive and visionary, craft is seen to be a practical application of certain skills for producing objects of everyday use that are often beautiful to look at, such as pottery, metal and wood work, cane and bamboo items, Jewellery, musical instruments like ektara, dhol or flute and textile items. People who practice a craft are called crafts persons or artisans who pick up their skills under the guidance of older and more experienced artisans. The training they receive is thus on the-job, and artisans often come from the same family. Bangladesh has a rich tradition of craft as the country has been, until very recently, dependent on agriculture, and most people lived in villages. Rural communities relied on artisans to supply them with necessary household items. But communities also needed objects to help them with social occasions such as weddings, religious rituals, festivals and personal use. They also needed items for use in trade and commerce. Craftworks thus range from winnowing baskets to clay oil lamps, from hand held fans to metal coins. As artisans worked with their hands to produce domestic and decorative objects, these came to be known as handicrafts. An artwork bears the signature of its creator, and the value of a painting, graphic art or sculpture depends on the stature of the artist. No such thing happens in case of craftwork. The maker of a terracotta doll or a shatranji (cotton floor mat) remains anonymous but the work retains a personal touch. When we look at a thirty year old nakshikantha we wonder at its motifs and designs that point to the artistic talent of its maker. The fact that we don’t know her name or any other details about her doesn’t take anything away from our appreciation of the maker’s skill. Indeed, the Intimate nature of the kantha and the tactile feeling it generates animate the work and make it very inviting. A craftwork is a dynamic object-always evolving and always abreast of changing tastes and needs. Changes in lifestyle and material conditions have an impact on craftworks and their production. But certain forms, motifs, styles and aesthetic preferences change little over time, suggesting that a craftwork can function as a stable signifier of community values and preferences over time. Sonargaon: Some of you who live outside Sonargaon, an Upazila in the district of Narayanganj, may have visited the ancient township with its Folk Arts and Crafts Museum, set up by the famous artist Zainul Abedin in 1970 and a number of old buildings which speak of a glorious past. But those who haven’t had a chance to go there may still read about it and see images of its historical and cultural landmarks on the Internet. Sonargaon lies about 24 kilometers away from Dhaka and can be reached by bus or taxi and other forms of private transport. It attracts hundreds of visitors every day because of its antiquity and historical importance. Sonargaon was once the capital of the independent Sultanate of Bengal in the early 14th century. Even before that, it was the capital of Vanga under Raja Danauja Rai. Greek and Roman writers and travelers from abroad mentioned Sonargaon which was a prosperous trading post with a splendid river port. Ibn Battuta visited it in 1346 and was amazed by its splendor. Panam Nagar: One of the historical landmarks of Sonargaon is the ancient city of Panam (also known as Painam) or Panam Nagar, which was developed to the south of the old city to provide residential quarters to the governors after the Moghul conquered Sonargaon in 1611. But some historians believe the city's history is much older and that the Moghuls developed Panam Nagar and built highways and bridges to connect it with Sonargaon. Three such bridges still exist. There are also three artificial canals that were dug up for easy communication and protection of the city. Panam Nagar became a prosperous trading post under the British rule. The East India Company made it a centre of muslin trade. At the peak of the trade about 1400 families of weavers lived in and around the city. If you visit Panam Nagar today, you will see old buildings lining both sides of a 600 meter road, ending at Panam Bazar. The brick buildings were built by Hindu traders in the early 19th to early 20th century. No one lives in these buildings now as the place is considered a heritage site.

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