BANGLADESH ART IN RETROSPECT - A Socio - Political Overview

Though a comparitively  young country on the world map, Bangladesh shares the inheritances of great Indian civilization with other countries of the subcontinent.

However, its distinctive features are also evident: it is situated at the north eastern corner of the subcontinent, somewhat secluded from the mainstream activities of the civilization, inhabited by the large majority of the Muslim population which is unlike its surroundings areas and henceforth its political history has taken a course which is evidently different form the neighbours of the region. The political fate of the people of Bangladesh had experienced dramatic changes, including an armed struggle for independence, during the course of last fifty years or so, and the evolution of social and cultural identity of the people of this region is very closely related to its political developments. As a result, the development of visuals arts in Bangladesh could not be accessed without taking into consideration its historical and sociological factors as well as contemporary Political history, which had to negotiate, issues conspicuously, different from that of the other countries of the subcontinent.

East Bengal, as it was called in earlier days, was inhabited by a vast majority of Muslim population who were mostly peasants and largely illiterate. Though Kolkata (Calcutta) which was nearby, was leading the political, intellectual and cultural resurgence of the Indian people in the colonial period, the Muslims of the East Bengal had little or no participation in it. There was almost no impact of the so called ‘Bengal Renaissance’. Neither the emergence of a class of enlightened intelligentsia among the educated Bengalis, nor the establishment of an art school and the emergence of a nationalistic art movement in Kolkata in the early years of the twentieth century could provide any influences on the cultural atmosphere of this region. Contrary to this, people of this region opted in favour of Pakistan and in 1947 it became the eastern wing of the newly created nation:

Pakistan was founded on the basis of a communal identity and the rulers of the country propagated an Islamic heritage and tried to disown all traditions of Buddhist and Hindu culture in Pakistan. Urdu was declared to be the national language and Bengali, which was the mother tongue of the majority, was looked down as the language of the Hindus. Arts and culture of the Bengalis and the secular heritage of the region came under continuous harassment. In this adverse situation, the modern art movement of a new nation began. The initiators in the eastern part of Pakistan were a handful of Muslim artists who were trained in Kolkata and were living there until partition of India forced them to migrate to East Pakistan.

Thus, from the beginning of the Pakistan period there was a crisis among the people here  the argument whether we were Muslims first or Bengali’s first. Fortunately, most of our artists did not opt for the communal identity; instead they tried to uphold the secular heritage of our history. In fact the realization of the people of East Pakistan that they were subjected to political and cultural discrimination came as early as 1952 when a number of people laid down their lives to uphold the dignity of their mother tongue, routed the Muslim League in the 1954 election and opted for a democratic and secular society. The pioneers of the art movement must have taken note of these and were inspired by them. Those artists of the 1940’s had a good training in naturalistic art in Kolkata and they might have absorbed some influences of the Bengal School and Jamini Roy as well. They tried to depict the rural life and nature of Bangladesh in different figurative idioms and attempted to make comments upon human conditions in natural and political distress. But the crisis was yet to be overcome. When the contemporary artist looked for inspiration within his/her heritage he/she found that most of the lofty idols of our civilization were situated beyond the geographical boundary of East Pakistan/ Bangladesh. Only ‘Pala’ could be called truly ours, but its formulated format was inadequate to inspire a modern artist. The only impetus could come from the very rich folk tradition of this region. But very few artists of Pakistan paid attention to it.

On the contrary, the creation of a new country offered a lot of opportunities for our artists in the 1950’s, who were among the first to graduate from the art institute in Dhaka, to go abroad and experience contemporary events in the art world of the west. It was the 1960’s and the overwhelming trend in mainstream western art at that time was abstraction of various sorts. In the mean time, military dictatorship had put a firm grip on the country, and this gave our artists a suitable opportunity to escape the controversy of identity, of heritage and to become 'international’ by using an ‘universal’ artistic language like abstraction. Also abstraction was in conformity with the basic concepts of non-configuration in Islam and did not annoy the military rulers in Pakistan. Thus the artists of the 1950’s and 1960’s of the Pakistan period initiated a major shift of attitude in our art which saw the introduction and appreciation of abstraction as a major trend in the visual arts which has remained so to this day and is considered by many to be the ‘ultimate’ and most progressive form of art. The non configuration practiced in our country is a sort of free abstraction inspired by the abstract expressionists of the 1950’s but, more often than not it lacked the philosophical basis and social context, and thus ended somewhere very close to decorativeness. Gradually, it became confined to a selective group of elite connoisseurs and consumers and thus lost contact with the ethos of the more crucial contemporary issues. Nevertheless, it is not to be forgotten that a few of them were markedly gifted and did works, which displayed sensitivity and craftsmanship.

The people’s upsurge of 1968-69 against the military dictatorship changed the situation and artists came forward to depict the people’s aspirations in banners, posters, festoons, caricatures and murals and many of them looked for inspirations to our her­itage of indigenous folk art and culture. There was a return to the figurative and an urge to make comments on political and social situations. Artists played a vital role in the liberation war of 1971 by glorifying our national heritage and identity through propaganda and promotional art.

The post liberation art scene saw a renewed pledge to depict the aspirations of a new nation in multifarious manifestations. There was a great enthusiasm in the art arena and the younger generation started working in diverse materials and idioms. Students went for higher training not only to the western capitals, but also to eastern centres such as India, Japan and China. This brought in variations in style, technique and material. But the situation took a reverse turn shortly and the country came again under long tenures of autocratic rules in various guises. The question of the identity came to the fore again and religious acquaintances were being highlighted. Though a sort of democracy is prevailing at the moment and elections are being held, the communal feeling held and communal sentiments are gaining momentum. As a result, there exists a feeling of a dejection and despair among the artists and many of them, as before, have reverted to abstraction as an escape from the dilemma.

But in the meantime, the unprecedented process made in the field of technology has brought the international art activities of the present times to our doorsteps. Artists are being introduced to the activities of multifar­ious dimensions through exhibitions, films, and printed material, Internet and satellite TV. It is therefore not unusual that the generations of artists of the 1980s and 90s are looking at such matters as tradition, identity and modernity with a more objective and dispassionate viewpoint and are more concerned with matters like language, articulation and expression. They are borrowing from a variety of global sources for inspiration from and are trying to give expression to their ideas through such diverse modes as instal­lation, light, sound and performances. One distinctive feature of the 80s and 90s is that many women have emerged as serious artists and many of them are addressing issues like persecution of women and children, environment, communalism, social discrimination etc. in far more effective idioms than their male counterparts.

However, the choices for a committed artist remain difficult, the restoration of democracy has not succeeded in restraining violence, corruption and terrorism. These affect society as a whole and the individual is increasingly becoming helpless and resigned. The art market however small it is, is being swallowed by the increasingly dominant art dealers and galleries and the saleable artists, who produce mostly abstract, semi abstract and the so called ‘folk’ decorative works, are dominating the consumer market. Newspapers and journals and mainstream critics are also promoting the same. A non-conformist artist has to confront all these and remain practicing in an environment not very congenial for him/her. Nevertheless, a number of young artists are working and are displaying a keen sense of contemporariness and are negotiating issues like identity and tradition with a more objective understanding and are attempting to address more relevant national and international issues like globalisation, consumerism, communalism, feminism, environment and economic and social discrimination.

Our art of the recent times reflect a society in a formative turmoil, its unstable and hesitant characteristics are reflections of a country’s growth through a continuous process of trial and error. A Bangladeshi artist confronts problems and distractions as any other artist of a third world country where his/her identity and relevance of his/her creations is threatened by the burden of western cultural conditioning. In this regard, a close rapport and interaction between the artists and art activists of third world countries could help him/her explore alternative ideas and concepts free from those burdens and preconceptions.

ABUL MONSUR

Abul Monsur is a professor at the Fine Arts Department, Chittagong University, Bangladesh