Murtaja Baseer's changing world

The thrill at the Murtaja Baseer’s much awaited exhibition in Uttara's Gallery Kaya on Friday was unmistakable.

And soon as the ailing master of modern art entered the Gallery with friends Syed Abdus Samad and M Sayeduzzaman, one could feel the enthusiasm bounce off the walls holding up his creations.

Samad is chairman of Bangladesh's Board of Investment, Sayeduzzaman has held important positions in government.

The solo exhibition – A collection of Drawings, Collages and Oil Pastels – united, as the artist said, the various styles he used in creating figurative art during his 60-year career (1954-2014).

A veteran practitioner, Baseer remains restless and uncompromised. The frames, on display for this first time, captured his favourite Saree-clad ladies in brilliant colours, with faces inspired by the coarse spirit of Byzantine art.

They were oil pastel on medium sized canvases that replaced Baseer’s famous large oil painted canvases.

His weak lungs prevent him from being near the fumes of chemicals and paint.

But he claimed he was not 'artistically constrained' by his medical condition.

“The last time I worked with oil pastel was in 1954,” said Baseer, revered for his ability to express in a wide variety of medium -- collages, sketches or research writings, film, poetry and novels.

All the 17-oil pastels, along with 5 drawings, were done during the span of last eight months. but the exhibition also displayed 13 more drawings, drawn in the 50s on ochre-hued paper, showing Baseer’s foreign artist friends from his days in Florence or the lonely stare of the ‘Boy from Rampura’ – a broken outline etched in red pencil.

“There is no need to capture an entire posture. When we look at a woman we don’t see her entirely, our vision falls on the flower in her hair bun, the beads on her neck”

Despite his sensitive lungs, for which he carried with him an oxygen cylinder, two large oil canvases adorned the left wall. They bore two female faces in their rugged outlines.

“This could be my last exhibition,” said the 83-year old. “But in my future work, I want to emphasise on these parts and diffuse the rest. I always like to bring new things,”

He spoke openly of the new adjustments in his life after the illness nearly killed him in November last year.

He explained his quest for a 'new medium’ but personal stress like his wife’s sickness was mentally blocking his efforts to create.

“I can’t leave this life, my work cannot stop. I draw these women because I love them. All their faces are individual. The toughest parts of drawing a figure are the hands and feet.

“I made all their hand postures unique. Every person is individual” said Baseer pointing at the women he immortalised in oil-pastel.

One covered her face behind a hand fan, while another stood with her arms crossed.

“Modern figurative painters like Jainul Abedin, Qamrul Hasan, Mokbul Hossain Fida have made their faces identical but mine aren’t.”

The collages gave away more of Baseer’s pensive dealings. He recounted his favourite masters – Botticelli, Van Gough, Modigliani and Picasso – as he showed his fans and media persons his modern interpretation on Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, a collage of craftily synchronised paper cut-outs, he created as homage to Botticelli.

“I first got the idea of modern interpretation of their art in 1959, but I could only do Venus,” said Baseer and went on to review his longing for Modigliani’s 'simplification of colour’ and Picasso’s grasp on the characteristic essence of his subjects.

The nine collages from between 1990 to 1991, showed a modern Lady Liberty, who has stripped.

Despite the ingenuity of his expressions, Baseer said, he felt a fear in holding up his work with so much young talent around.

“I exhibit when I feel I’ve done something significant. But it is also about survival. The younger generation of artists are more prolific and talented. But I cannot go beyond my abilities.

“I will ask my audience to see where I lack, to point out where my sensitivity falters,” said the master humbly.

The 46 art pieces by Baseer will be on display at Galleri Kaya until Sep 25, from 11am to 8pm. Their copies can also be viewed at online gallery, artitude.com.bd

bdnews24.com is the exhibition’s online media partner.