Collection: Quamrul Hassan
Quamrul Hassan was strongly influenced by Guru Saday Dutt’s Bratachari movement, which called for rejection of and expressions of resistance against British colonial rule and re-establishing the Bengali heritage. He continued to hold on to these ideals until his last days.
A graduate of the Kolkata Art School, Hassan played a leading role in establishing the Government Art Institute in Dhaka, along with Zainul Abedin and others. He also taught at the Institute. Hassan set up the government’s Small and Cottage Industries (now BSCIC) in 1960. As the head of the Design Centre of BSCIC, he worked tirelessly to revive artisanal practices and crafts enterprises, until his retirement in 1978.
Quamrul Hassan’s subjects range from colorful pictures depicting a pristine, rural Bengal to a politically corrupt, degenerate one. His ability to combine traditional pata painting techniques and folk motifs in a modern paradigm earned him the title ‘Patua Quamrul Hassan’. His fierce political cartoons inspired the people in civil movements and demonstrations. During the Liberation War of 1971, Hassan served as the Director of the Art Division of the Media and Information Department of the Bangladesh Government in exile. Two of Hassan’s works, notable caricatures of the Pakistani general Yahya Khan and the Bangladeshi dictator Hossain Mohammad Ershad, have come to be part of Bangladesh’s political history. Hassan’s contribution is enshrined in his designs of the monogram of the Republic of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, Bangladesh Bank, and Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
Hassan received the President’s Gold Medal in 1965 and Independence Award in 1979, among other honors and awards.
A graduate of the Kolkata Art School, Hassan played a leading role in establishing the Government Art Institute in Dhaka, along with Zainul Abedin and others. He also taught at the Institute. Hassan set up the government’s Small and Cottage Industries (now BSCIC) in 1960. As the head of the Design Centre of BSCIC, he worked tirelessly to revive artisanal practices and crafts enterprises, until his retirement in 1978.
Quamrul Hassan’s subjects range from colorful pictures depicting a pristine, rural Bengal to a politically corrupt, degenerate one. His ability to combine traditional pata painting techniques and folk motifs in a modern paradigm earned him the title ‘Patua Quamrul Hassan’. His fierce political cartoons inspired the people in civil movements and demonstrations. During the Liberation War of 1971, Hassan served as the Director of the Art Division of the Media and Information Department of the Bangladesh Government in exile. Two of Hassan’s works, notable caricatures of the Pakistani general Yahya Khan and the Bangladeshi dictator Hossain Mohammad Ershad, have come to be part of Bangladesh’s political history. Hassan’s contribution is enshrined in his designs of the monogram of the Republic of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, Bangladesh Bank, and Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
Hassan received the President’s Gold Medal in 1965 and Independence Award in 1979, among other honors and awards.
