Zainul Abedin

Zainul Abedin (1914–1976) was a Bangladeshi modernist painter whose famine sketches documented the Bengal famine of 1943. He helped establish Dhaka’s Institute of Fine Arts, now the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Dhaka.

Famine Sketches: A series of drawings depicting starvation and suffering during the Bengal famine of 1943. These spare ink works brought Abedin international attention and documented famine’s human cost.
Government School of Art, Calcutta: An art school in colonial Calcutta where Abedin studied and later taught. Its academic training formed part of his foundation before his famine-era turn to direct observation.
Quamrul Hassan: A Bangladeshi painter and graphic artist known for modernist work rooted in folk traditions. He was a contemporary of Abedin and helped shape modern art in Bangladesh.
Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka: An art faculty at the University of Dhaka, founded as the Institute of Fine Arts in 1948. Abedin founded the institution and led its development into a center for art education.
Bengal Famine of 1943: A catastrophic famine in Bengal under British colonial rule that killed millions in 1943–1944. The famine was the subject of Abedin’s best-known documentary drawings.
Bengal School of Art: An early twentieth-century Indian art movement that revived and reinterpreted South Asian artistic traditions. Abedin’s direct, socially grounded style differed from the movement’s nationalist revivalism.
Safiuddin Ahmed: A Bangladeshi artist known for printmaking, painting, and teaching. Like Abedin, he helped establish an influential art education tradition in Dhaka.
Bangladeshi modern art: Modern visual art produced in Bangladesh, shaped by local traditions and political history. Abedin is widely regarded as a central founder of the country’s modern art tradition.
Nabanna: A 1969 scroll painting by Abedin depicting rural life and the harvest festival of Bengal. Its procession of figures contrasts with the famine drawings’ stark scenes of deprivation.
Calcutta Group: A collective of modern Indian artists founded in Calcutta in 1943. Its modernist break with academic conventions offers a parallel to Abedin’s artistic milieu.

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University of DhakaRelated: He taught at the university and founded its Institute of Fine Arts.