Qayyum Chowdhury (9 March 1932 – 30 November 2014)
[ was a Bangladeshi painter. Along with ]Zainul Abedin
Zainul Abedin (29 December 1914 – 28 May 1976) was a Bangladeshi painter born in Mymensingh, East Bengal, British India (now Bangladesh). He became well known in 1944 through his series of paintings depicting some of the great famines in ...
, Quamrul Hassan
Quamrul Hassan (, 1921–1988) was a Bengali artist. Hassan is referred to in Bangladesh as Potua, a word usually associated with folk artists, due to his down to earth style yet very modern in nature as he always added Cubism other than the fo ...
and Safiuddin Ahmed, he is considered as a first generation artist of Bangladesh. He was awarded the Ekushey Padak
Ekushey Padak ( bn, একুশে পদক; lit. "Twentyfirst Award") is the second highest civilian award in Bangladesh, introduced in memory of the martyrs of the Bengali Language Movement of 1952. The award is given to recognize contribut ...
in 1984 and the Independence Day Award
The Independence Day Award ( bn, স্বাধীনতা পদক), also termed Independence Award ( bn, স্বাধীনতা পুরস্কার), Swadhinata Padak, and Swadhinata Puroskar, is the highest state award given by t ...
in 2014 by the Government of Bangladesh
The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ সরকার — ) is the central executive government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Con ...
.
Early life
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
Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...
, Comilla
Comilla (; bn, কুমিল্লা, Kumillā, ), officially spelled Cumilla, is the fifth largest city of Bangladesh and second largest in Chittagong division. It is the administrative centre of the Comilla District. The name Comilla was ...
, Narail
Narail ( bn, নড়াইল, pron: ''nɔɽail'') is a district in south-western Bangladesh. It is a part of Khulna Division.
History
Narail town was named after a feudal lord (a zamindar). The zamindars established a market at Roopgonj, als ...
, Sandwip
Sandwip ( bn, সন্দ্বীপ, Shondip) is an island located along the southeastern coast of Bangladesh in the Chattogram District. Along with the island of Urir Char, it is a part of the Sandwip Upazila.
Description
Sandwip is locate ...
, Noakhali
Noakhali ( bn, নোয়াখালী, , New canal), historically known as Bhulua ( bn, ভুলুয়া), is a district in southeastern Bangladesh, located in the Chittagong Division. It was established as district in 1821, and officia ...
, Feni, Faridpur and Mymensingh
Mymensingh ( bn, ময়মনসিংহ) is the capital of Mymensingh Division, Bangladesh. Located on the bank of Brahmaputra River, about north of the national capital Dhaka, it is a major financial center and educational hub of north ...
in his boyhood. His uncles, Mohtasambillah Chowdhury and Aminul Islam Chowdhury were writers. In 1949, he completed his matriculation from Mymensingh City Collegiate School.[ He graduated from Dhaka Art College (now ]Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka
The Faculty of Fine Arts (FFA) was established in 1948 as the Dhaka Art School. It was the first art school in the region and became the main centre of art and cultural practice. Since 1956 it has been situated in Shahbag, Dhaka, close to the Ban ...
) in 1954.[
]
Career
Chowdhury joined Dhaka Art College as a lecturer in 1957.[ He then took a job at the newly established Design Centre to work under ]Quamrul Hassan
Quamrul Hassan (, 1921–1988) was a Bengali artist. Hassan is referred to in Bangladesh as Potua, a word usually associated with folk artists, due to his down to earth style yet very modern in nature as he always added Cubism other than the fo ...
. Within a year he joined the then Pakistan Observer
The ''Pakistan Observer'' is one of the oldest and widely read English-language daily newspapers of Pakistan. It is published in six cities – Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, and Muzaffarabad. The newspaper was founded in 1988 b ...
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.[ He went back to Dhaka Art College in 1965.][ He was promoted to the position of assistant professor in 1970, to associate professor in 1986 and to professor in 1991.][ He retired from the organization in 1994 but he kept teaching in the institute until 2002.][
]
Works
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).[ His later work were ''"Boat"'' (pen and ink, 2001), ''"Setting Sun"'' (pen and ink, 2001), ''"Secret Talk"'' (acrylic, 2004) and ''"Worried"'' (acrylic, 2004). He held four solo exhibitions.
Chowdhury began designing book covers by working on ]Zahir Raihan
Mohammad Zahirullah (19 August 1935 – disappeared 30 January 1972), known as Zahir Raihan, was a Bangladeshi novelist, writer and filmmaker. He is most notable for his documentary ''Stop Genocide'' (1971), made during the Bangladesh Liberation ...
’s book ''"Shesh Bikeler Meye"''.[ He designed the cover of ]Shamsur Rahman (poet)
Shamsur Rahman ( bn, শামসুর রাহমান; 23 October 1929 – 17 August 2006) was a Bangladeshi poet, columnist and journalist. A prolific writer, Rahman produced more than sixty books of poetry collection and is considered ...
’s first poetry collection, ''Prothom Gaan Dwityo Mrittyur Agey'', and several books of Syed Shamsul Haque
Syed Shamsul Haq (27 December 1935 – 27 September 2016) was a Bangladeshi writer. He was awarded Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1966 (the youngest among all to receive it), Ekushey Padak in 1984 and Independence Day Award in 2000 by the Gove ...
.[
Chowdhury was a member of ]Bangladesh Bank
Bangladesh Bank ( bn, বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংক) is the central bank of Bangladesh and is a member of the Asian Clearing Union. It is fully owned by the Government of Bangladesh.
The bank is active in developing green banki ...
’s currency note design committee and mural committee and designed several currency notes in circulation.[
Chowdhury had been involved with daily ]Prothom Alo
''The Daily Prothom Alo'' ( bn, প্রথম আলো) is a daily newspaper in Bangladesh, published from Dhaka in the Bengali language. It is the largest circulated newspaper in Bangladesh. According to National Media Survey 2018, conducte ...
since its inception in 1998.[ He was the convenor of the ''Charu Karu Shilpi Songram Parishad'' during the liberation war in 1971.
]
Awards
* First prize for Painting, National Art Exhibition in Lahore (1961)
* The Imperial Court Prize, Tehran Biennale (1966)
* Gold medal for book design from the National Book Centre, Dhaka (1975)
* Shilpakala Academy Award (1977)
* Ekushey Padak
Ekushey Padak ( bn, একুশে পদক; lit. "Twentyfirst Award") is the second highest civilian award in Bangladesh, introduced in memory of the martyrs of the Bengali Language Movement of 1952. The award is given to recognize contribut ...
(1984)[
* 6th Bangabandhu Award (1994)]
* Leipzig Book Fair Prize for book illustration (1983)
* Sultan Padak (1999)
Personal life and death
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.[ Together they had a son Moinul Islam Zaber.
On 30 November 2014, Chowdhury fell sick while delivering his speech on the fourth-day of ]Bengal Foundation
The Bengal Foundation ( bn, বেঙ্গল ফাউন্ডেশন) is a Bangladeshi non-profit and charitable organization headquartered in Dhanmondi, Dhaka. It is mostly known for organizing local and international events in the country.
...
organized classical music festival in Bangladesh Army Stadium. He had been taken to Combined Military Hospital
Combined Military Hospitals ( ur, , abbreviated as CMH) are Pakistan Armed Forces hospitals situated in various cantonments of Pakistan.
History
During the British Raj, the British Indian Army troops depended for their medical treatment enti ...
, where he was declared dead.
Documentary on Qayyum Chowdhury
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.
,
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chowdhury, Qayyum
1932 births
2014 deaths
People from Feni District
Bangladeshi painters
University of Dhaka Faculty of Fine Arts alumni
Recipients of the Ekushey Padak
Recipients of the Independence Day Award
Honorary Fellows of Bangla Academy
Burials at Azimpur Graveyard