The pioneer of Bangladeshi modern art Zainul Abedin is widely acclaimed for his Bengal 'Famine Sketches'. Through the series of sketches, Zainul not aly
documented the harsh famine of 1943 but also showed its sinister face through the skeletal figures of the people destined to die of starvation in a man made plight. He depicted these extremely shocking pictures with human compassion. He made his own ink by burning charcoal and used cheap ordinary packing paper for sketching. Using the ink and applying
the brush where necessary, he produced the drawings and sketches which later became iconic images of human suffering.
Zainul developed a knack for drawing and painting when he was a high school student. After completing high school, he took admission in the Government School of Art, Calcutta (now Kolkata). He graduated with the first position in first
class in 1938. He was appointed a teacher of the Art School while he was still a student there. He also attended the Slade School of Arts, London during 1951-52.
Zainul Abedin is considered the founding father of Bangladeshi art. He was an artist of outstanding talent and earned international reputation. For his artistic and visionary qualities, he is referred to
as Shilpacharya meaning 'great teacher of art' in Bangladesh. He was the first Principal of the first art school in Dhaka in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). He organized the Nabanna (harvest) exhibition in 1969. The exhibition included a 65 feet long scroll portraying the rural East Pakistan in phases from
abundance to poverty. This intensified the already heightened non-cooperation movement against the Pakistan regime. The exhibition was symbolic of the Bangalee artists' protest and a milestone in our google for cultural and political freedom. Zainul dynamic style of work is evident in a 30 feet long scroll painting called Manpura, which was done to
emirate the death of hundreds and thousands of people in the devastating cyclone of 1970.