Forerunners Rashid Choudhury, Murtaja Baseer, Debdas Chakraborty – their pedagogy and modernist approach

On the occasion of 50 years of Bangladesh’s independence, the exhibition ‘Forerunners Rashid Choudhury, Murtaja Baseer, Debdas Chakraborty – their pedagogy and modernist approach’ seeks to explore the contexts, trajectories, and interpretations that characterise fifty years of institutional art practice in Chattogram. The curator, leading pedagogue and contemporary visual artist Dhali Al Mamoon, enquires into the ways in which Rashid Choudhury, Murtaja Baseer and Debdas Chakraborty foregrounded new modernist thinking that resisted conventional categorisation, setting new idioms and parameters in keeping with the politics of their time.
The multiple openings that the three artists explored by working tirelessly in different media, and by continually evolving and questioning their own position and practice – learnings they so generously handed down to their students and disciples – may constitute one of the richest bodies of knowledge, pedagogical resource and art-making in Bangladesh. Comprising paintings, prints, drawings, tapestries, audio and video material, books and memorabilia, drawn from several institutional and private collections, we hope that the show will invite debates about art-making and modernist teachings in the country, adding to the overall richness and diversity of social and artistic trajectories in Bangladesh.
The Governor of Bangladesh Bank Mr. Fazle Kabir inaugurated the exhibition on 16 March 2022, You are cordially invited to view the show..

16 March – 18 June 2022
On view every day from 3 to 8 PM until 18 June 2022, except Sundays.
Closed from 1- 5 May due to Eid

Bengal Shilpalay
Level 1/ Level 2
House 42, Road 27, Dhanmondi, Dhaka 

Entry is free and open for all. No bags. Maximum 10 (ten) visitors. Please wear a mask and maintain 3 feet distance. No food or drinks allowed inside. No professional cameras. No flash photography. Please cooperate with security personnel. To know more call 018 4405 0505 or write to info@bengalarts.org