Qayyum Chowdhury | |
|---|---|
কাইয়ুম চৌধুরী | |
 Chowdhury in 1960 | |
| Born | (1932-03-09)9 March 1932 Feni,Bengal Presidency, British India |
| Died | 30 November 2014(2014-11-30) (aged 82) Dhaka, Bangladesh |
| 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 withZainul Abedin,Quamrul Hassan andSafiuddin Ahmed, he is considered as a first generation artist ofBangladesh.[3] He was awarded theEkushey Padak in 1984 and theIndependence Day Award in 2014 by theGovernment of Bangladesh.[4][5]
Chowdhury was born on 9 March 1932 inFeni. His father, Abdul Quddus Chowdhury, came from a landlord family and was a cooperative-bank official. Because of transferring job, Chowdhury lived inChittagong,Comilla,Narail,Sandwip,Noakhali, Feni,Faridpur andMymensingh 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 (nowFaculty 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 underQuamrul Hassan. Within a year he joined the thenPakistan Observer where he served as the chief artist. He also started working for the Observer group's other publications namelyChitrali, a cine magazine andPurbadesh, 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 onZahir Raihan's book"Shesh Bikeler Meye".[2] He designed the cover ofShamsur Rahman (poet)'s first poetry collection,Prothom Gaan Dwityo Mrittyur Agey, and several books ofSyed Shamsul Haque.[2]
Chowdhury was a member ofBangladesh Bank's currency note design committee and mural committee and designed several currency notes in circulation.[2]
Chowdhury had been involved with dailyProthom Alo since its inception in 1998.[2] He was the convenor of theCharu 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 ofBengal Foundation organized classical music festival in Bangladesh Army Stadium. He had been taken toCombined 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]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
