Zainul Abedin

Zainul Abedin was born on December 29, 1914, in Kishoreganj on the banks of the Brahmaputra River. Graduating with top honors from the Government School of Art in Calcutta, Abedin was propelled to world renown in 1943 when British wartime colonial policies unleashed the catastrophic Bengal Famine.

Using cheap Chinese ink on packing paper, Abedin made searing, expressive sketches of starving skeletons, dying mothers, and crows feeding on corpses in the streets of Calcutta. In 1948, he moved to Dhaka, establishing the Government Institute of Arts (now Charukala, Dhaka University). In 1969, he created his monumental 65-foot scroll painting Nabanna, celebrating peasant resilience. He was designated National Professor of Bangladesh in 1975.