Tofail Ahmed (22 February 1919 – 28 March 2002) was a well-known Bangladeshi researcher of

Folk Art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...

. He was also a collector of Folk artifacts and has authored several books on Bangladeshi Folk arts and Crafts. He was awarded the ''Shilu Abed Karushilpa Award'' for his contribution to Folk Arts and Craft in 1998. He was also elected as an honorary fellow of the

Bangla Academy The Bangla Academy ( bn, বাংলা একাডেমি, ) is an autonomous institution funded by the Bangladesh government to foster the Bengali language, literature and culture, to develop and implement national language policy and to d ...

in 2001.

Early life and career

Ahmed was educated at

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

where he completed his MA in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

in 1944. He started his teaching career at Calcutta Islamia College. He also taught at Chakhar College in

Barisal Barisal ( or ; bn, বরিশাল, ), officially known as Barishal, is a major city that lies on the banks of the Kirtankhola river in south-central Bangladesh. It is the largest city and the administrative headquarter of both Barisal Dist ...

. He later moved to Government Saadat College in Karatia Union where he was the Principal of the college for seventeen years. In 1980 he retired as director of the Bangladesh Council.

Major contributions

Ahmed made significant contributions to Bangladeshi folk art. He has collected and preserved many specimens of folk artifacts which are now extinct. During 1984–1987, as part of the Karika project on Folk crafts and design documentation, he visited about 1500 villages all over Bangladesh and collected rare Folk artifacts. Here he discovered the rare Gazir Pat, which is a form of scroll painting used to illustrate the life of Gazi Pir. Previously, it was believed that the only preserved piece of this art was at the Asutosh Museum of Indian Art in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

. Ahmed established a private folk museum in his private residence in Lalmatia,

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

. It has been open to public ever since.

Bibliography

* ''Amader Prachin Shilpa'' (Our ancient crafts and industries) 1964 * ''Lokashilpa'' (Folk arts and crafts) 1985 * ''Yuge Yuge Bangladesh'' (Bangladesh through the ages) 1992 * ''Lokashilper Bhubane'' (In the realm of folk art) 1993 * ''Dhakar Banijyik Karukala'' (The commercial crafts of Dhaka) 1993 * ''Loka Aitihyer Dash Diganta'' (Ten dimensions of folk tradition) 1999

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed, Tofail 1919 births 2002 deaths People from Lakshmipur District University of Calcutta alumni Academic staff of the University of Calcutta Bangladeshi artists Bangladeshi academics Bangladeshi male writers Place of death missing