The 87th birth anniversary of world famous artist SM Sultan will be observed tomorrow by his admirers at his village home in the district.
Machimdia village, where he was born on this day in 1924 and built the ‘Shishu Swarga’ whose meaning is ‘Heaven for Children’, will wear a festive look with various organisations chalking out programmes to celebrate the birthday of the legendary artist.
The SM Sultan National Birth Celebration Committee- 2011 has drawn up a daylong programme to mark the birthday of the celebrated painter, who devoted more than half of his lifetime to painting in solitude.
Besides, various socio-cultural organizations will observe his birth anniversary in his village and district town.
The daylong programme includes placing wreaths and ziarat to his grave, holding Quran Khwani, milad mahfil and art competition and bringing out colourful procession and boat race in the Chitra river and discussion.
On this day in 1924, Sultan, nick named Lal Mia, was born in an ordinary family of Machimdia village in Narail.
Sultan hit the headlines in the art world much before he was known as a painter to the people of his homeland.
He was just 35 when his paintings were exhibited in New York, Boston, London and Michigan University in 1959, long before
his exhibition at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in 1976.
Sulatn joined the international conference of painters in the United States in 1950 as a representative of the Pakistan
government.
His artworks were exhibited in Simla of India in 1946 and in Lahore and Karachi in 1948-49. He also spent some years in Kolkata, studying and painting.
Later, he settled in Narail in 1953, devoting his time to painting nature at his village home till his death on October 10, 1994.
The eccentric genius, who chose a solitary life, deeply enjoyed his relationship with nature and the people of this country. They were the prime sources of his inspiration and the spur to his creativity.
Leading a very simple life far away from the madding crowd at his village home, the selfless painter spent most of his life completely engrossed in paint and brush.
Sultan’s very simple but highly philosophic art, which revealed in nature and the people of Bangladesh, has become the prime source of inspiration for the new generation of painters.