Lesson 3  Our Art and Craft  PDF

A. Discuss the questions in pairs:

1. What is art?
2. Do you know any famous artist in Bangladesh? Who is s/he?

B. Read the following text and answer the tasks that follow:

Art is generally understood as an expression of human imagination and creative skills in a range of activities including painting, drawing, sculpture, and architecture. The gift of art is to evoke feelings and emotions that are considered aesthetic — that is, concerned with beauty — but art also can be a form of social commentary.

A painting of sunset over the sea glorifies nature, but one that shows a war-ravaged town can convey a sense of anguish. Throughout the world, people appreciate art for its power to affect them in creative ways. As the famous painter Pablo Picasso said, “the purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.”

Art in our country has a long history. It has been practiced in households in the form of pottery, nakshikantha or embroidered quilt, alpana or intricate, mostly floral designs in rice paste done on clay yards, and shokher hari or painted earthen pots (and their lids). These are examples of folk art.

But there is another form of art which is called modern art, which owes its origin to the industrial revolution in Western Europe in the middle of the 19th century and the changes it brought in technology, education, manufacturing, and communication. Modern art rejected traditional art forms and began to create new types of artistic expression using styles, techniques, colors, and materials that could adequately reflect the spirit of the time and the profound changes in human thought.

The beginning of modern art practices in our country date from 1948, when the great artist Zainul Abedin (1914-1976), with the help of some colleagues, set up an institute of art in Dhaka (now the Faculty of Fine Art, University of Dhaka). As it began to offer art education, the institute drew together a number of talented teachers and students who contributed to the development of modern art almost from scratch. But within a decade, artists were reflecting most recent trends and styles in their work — such as expressionism and abstract expressionism — while maintaining a close contact with the traditions of folk art.

Zainul had earned all-India fame for his Famine Sketches, a series of haunting sketches based on the Bengal famine of 1943 which took hundreds of thousands of lives. His watercolors, scroll paintings, and drawings inspire our artists even today. The other prominent artists who had major contributions to the spectacular rise of our contemporary art include Qamrul Hassan, SM Sultan, Safiuddin Ahmed, Abdur Razzak, Qayyum Chowdhury, Murtaza Baseer, Aminul Islam, Syed Jahangir, Debdas Chakravarty, Novera Ahmed, and Muhammad Kibria.

The war of liberation and the independence of the country in 1971 inspired our artists to continue the efforts of the earlier artists to explore the limits of art and create new expressive modes. For the next four decades, art in our country saw many experimentations. Artists dealt with new ideas such as installation art and graphic art, and reshaped older, traditional art forms. If you visit any art gallery or art exhibition, you will find how our art reflects our changing realities in fascinating ways.

B.1 Re-arrange the sentences to make a paragraph:

a. Such experimentations included installation art, graphic art, and reshaping of older, traditional art forms.
b. The beginning of modern art practices in our country date from 1948 with the setting up of an institute of art in Dhaka.
c. The war of liberation and the independence of the country in 1971 inspired our artists to continue the efforts of the earlier artists.
d. When the institute was set up, it drew together a number of talented teachers and students.

e. During the Bengal famine of 1943, Zainul Abedin had earned all-India fame for his Famine Sketches.
f. Besides his Famine Sketches, Zainul’s watercolors, scroll paintings, and drawings also inspired many artists.
g. Within the next four decades of our independence, art in our country saw many experimentations.

C. Now, read the text below and answer the questions that follow:

While art is considered intuitive and visionary, craft is seen to be a practical application of certain skills for producing objects of everyday use that are often beautiful to look at, such as pottery, metal and wood work, cane and bamboo items, jewelry, musical instruments like ektara, dhol, or flute, and textile items. People who practice a craft are called crafts persons or artisans who pick up their skills under the guidance of their predecessors. The training they receive is thus on-the-job, and artisans often come from the same family.

Bangladesh has a rich tradition of craft, as the country has been, until very recently, dependent on agriculture, and most people lived in villages. Rural communities relied on artisans to supply them with necessary household items. But these communities also needed objects to help them with social occasions such as weddings, religious rituals, festivals, and personal use.

They also needed items for use in trade and commerce. Craftworks thus range from winnowing baskets to clay oil lamps, from hand-held fans to metal combs. As artisans worked with their hands to produce domestic and decorative objects, these came to be known as handicrafts.

An artwork bears the signature of its creator, and the value of a painting, graphic art, or sculpture depends on the stature of the artist. No such thing happens in the case of craftwork. The maker of a terracotta doll or a patranji (cotton floor mat) remains anonymous, but the work retains a personal touch. When we look at a thirty-year-old nakshikantha, we wonder at its motifs and designs that point to the artistic talent of its maker.

The fact that we don’t know her name or any other details about her doesn’t take anything away from our appreciation of the maker’s skill. Indeed, the intimate nature of the kantha and the tactile feeling it generates animate the work and make it very inviting.

A craftwork is a dynamic object — always evolving and always abreast of changing tastes and needs. Changes in lifestyle and material conditions have an impact on craftworks and their production. But certain forms, motifs, styles, and aesthetic preferences change little over time, suggesting that a craftwork can function as a stable signifier of community values and preferences over time.

C.1 Find out the meaning of the words and then make sentences with them:

intuitive, visionary, decorative, graphic, intimate, generate, animate, inviting, evolving, signifier.

C.2 Prepare a list of handicrafts that are in use in your house.

The following graph shows the value of hand-woven rugs exported to European Union (EU) countries from Bangladesh from 2013 to 2017. The value of exported rugs for each year is shown in million Euros. Write about 180 words describing major trends shown in the chart.

D. Read the text below and do the activities that follow:

Sonargaon

Some of you who live outside Sonargaon, an Upazila in the district of Narayanganj, may have visited the ancient township with its Folk Arts and Crafts Museum, set up by the famous artist Zainul Abedin in 1970, and a number of old buildings which speak of a glorious past. But those who haven’t had a chance to go there may still read about it and see images of its historical and cultural landmarks on the Internet.

Sonargaon lies about 24 kilometers away from Dhaka and can be reached by bus or taxi and other forms of private transport. It attracts hundreds of visitors every day because of its antiquity and historical importance. Sonargaon was once the capital of the independent Sultanate of Bengal in the early 14th century.

Even before that, it was the capital of Vanga under Raja Danauja Rai. Greek and Roman writers and travelers from abroad mentioned Sonargaon, which was a prosperous trading post with a splendid river port. Ibn Battuta visited it in 1346 and was amazed by its splendor.

1. Make sentences with the following words: ancient, glorious, landmark, antiquity, prosperous, splendid, amazed.
2. Describe the fastest way to reach Sonargaon from your city/town/village.
3. A travel agent has prepared a brief description of Sonargaon under different headings. Fill up the blanks with information from the text:

D1 Sonargaon

Location

• Not too far from the capital city, Dhaka, only (1) _____ kilometers away

Attractions

• Folk Arts and Crafts Museum set up in (2) _____ by famous artist Zainul Abedin
• A number of old buildings of (3) _____ and cultural importance

History

• The capital of the independent Sultanate of Bengal in the early (4) _____ century
• The capital of (5) _____ under Raja Danauja Rai

Famous admirers

• Mentioned and admired by Greek and (6) _____ writers and travelers
• Drew the attention of (7) _____ who traveled to this area in 1346

E. Read the text below and do the activities that follow:

One of the historical landmarks of Sonargaon is the ancient city of Panam (also known as Painam) or Panam Nagar, which was developed to the south of the old city to provide residential quarters to the governors after the Moghul conquered Sonargaon in 1611. But some historians believe the city’s history is older and can be connected to Sonargaon.

Three such bridges still exist. There are also three artificial canals that were dug up for easy communication and protection of the city. Panam Nagar became a prosperous trading post under the British rule. The East India Company made it a center of muslin trade. At the peak of the trade, about 1400 families of weavers lived in and around the city.

If you visit Panam Nagar today, you will see old buildings lining both sides of a 600-meter road, ending at Panam Bazar. The brick buildings were built by Hindu traders in the early 19th to early 20th century. No one lives in these buildings now as the place is considered a heritage site.

E1. One of your social media friends living in Australia is interested in visiting some of the old architectural sites in Bangladesh. Write an email inviting him/her to visit Panam Nagar. Based on the information given in the above text, explain in your email why Panam Nagar is worth visiting.

D2. Project: Plan a visit to Panam Nagar. Prepare and give an oral presentation on what you expect to see there.

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