The first tree plantation . Oil on canvas
S M Sultan led a life that was as colorful and dynamite
as was his .He was born in a poor family, but poverty could not stand in the wave
of his mobility He read in the prestigious Calcutta Government School Ots Art,
and received generous support fem. his early mentor, the celebrated art critic Shamed
Suhrawardy. But Sultan's nature was
against spreading roots anywhere, so he moved on, travelling to different
regions of India. working all the while and selling his art work to whoever
bought them.
After the partition of the subcontinent in 1947,
Sultan to in Pakistan, then moved to England and USA. In London, his shown in
an exhibition alongside those of Picasso and Paul Klee- he came back to
Bangladesh, he spent part of his time in Dhaka, but mostly in Narail, Jessore,
his home town, where 'he settled in the 1980s. Sultan began to raise a family,
which consisted of a ot- pet animals, birds and snakes, and children. The birds
and beasts found a sanctuary in his house, and the children found a safe He
named the space he created for children Sishu Shot-go Children's Heaven.
Sultan
had stayed away from the mainstream art practices of Bangladesh, pursuing his
unique style and maintaining his focus on subjects from the life of the common
people. He painted on large cuisses. and his peasants and workers always
appeared larger than life brawny bodies and a single-minded dedication to the
task at hand. The women and children too looked healthy, contented. This
Sultan's dream of plenty and prosperity that he always had about the common people.
It
is difficult to chronicle the life and work of an artist who created a unique
tradition in and lived away from the limelight.
