Hamiduzzaman Khan: A Retrospective

Another Subcontinent is proud to present a retrospective of the work of renowned Bangladeshi sculptor, Hamiduzzaman Khan. This exhibition will be featured on the site till July 12, 2006 and will be archived thereafter in the "visual" features section (see links at left).

To view this exhibition click on the thumbnails on the right. Each will open a larger image in this center window. To view a fresh set of thumbnails click on the gallery links; to return to this introduction click on "front". Copyright for all images is retained by the artist and these images may not be used, disseminated or displayed without his permission.

After viewing these galleries we invite you to visit our Visual Arts forum to discuss your own responses to this exhibition.

About Hamiduzzaman Khan

Hamiduzzaman Khan was born in 1946 in the village of Sohasram in Kishoreganj. Encouraged from a young age by his family to pursue the fine arts, he graduated in 1967 from East Pakistan College of Arts and Crafts. He decided to specialize in sculpture in 1969 after returning to Dhaka from an extended visit to England and Europe undertaken for medical reasons. During his journey to England Hamid Khan visited ports in South Africa and Senegal and his impressions of the vivid visual culture of the region were to become a lasting presence in his imagination. The War of Liberation of 1971 was another major event in his early life, and scenes he witnessed in the streets of Dhaka were evoked later in his "Remembrance '71" series (some pieces from which are presented here).

In 1974 he received a scholarship from the Indian government to study sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Baroda. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1976. In the words of Professor Nazrul Islam: "These two years proved to be extremely rewarding for Hamid. He not only received the essential education and practical training in the various media within sculpture, but also got the opportunity of visiting and studying classical Indian sculptural arts. He came in close contact with major contemporary Indian artists like Gulammohammad Sheikh, K.G. Subramaniam, Shankho Chowdhury, Raghav Kaneria and found bright young artists as his fellow students, who in turn later became well-known in Indian modern art." He came to prominence in Bangladesh shortly after this when the 32 pieces in his "Remembrance '71" series were featured in the first ever National Sculpture Exhibition organized by the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in December, 1976. The events of the war remain major thematic concerns in Hamid Khan's work.

A visit to the USA in the early 1980s, studying at the Sculpture Centre School in New York, exposed him to abstract forms and their relationships to public spaces and landscapes. On his return he became the first major Bangladeshi artist to work with installations (as seen in images here) and he remains dedicated to the integration of art and sculpture in public spaces in Bangladesh. His reputation grew steadily both at home and abroad through the 1980s and 1990s and he is now both one of the pre-eminent Bangladeshi sculptors and a significant presence in the international art world. He is also a painter of some repute.

Selected Exhibitions

  • 1980 : International Exhibition of Contemporary Asian Art Show, Fakuda, Japan (group)
  • 1982 : Sculpture show, Bangladesh College of Arts and Crafts, Dhaka (solo)
  • 1983 : Sculpture show, Bangladesh Embassy House, USA (solo)
  • 1986 : 6th Triennale International Exhibition, New Delhi, India (group)
  • 1986 : International Istaqlal Art Festival, Jakarta, Indonesia (group)
  • 1988 : Open air sculpture show by Olympic Committee, Seoul, Korea (group); “Steps” permanently displayed at the Seoul Olympic Park
  • 1990 : Painting show, Sofia, Bulgaria (solo)
  • 1999 : Puyo International Sculpture Symposium, Korea (sculpture)
  • 2000 : Sculpture show, Shilpangon - Contemporary Art Gallery, Dhaka (solo)
  • 2002 : An Indigenous Minimalist - Sculpture show, Bengal Gallery of Fine Art, Dhaka (solo)
  • 2005 : Invited Artist by Youngone Corporation, Korea.

Selected Collections

  • World Bank, Washington, D.C, U.S.A
  • Museum of Modern Art, Indonesia
  • Museum of Modern Art, Youngwool, Korea
  • Bangladesh National Museum, Dhaka
  • Bangabhaban (Bangladesh president's residence), Dhaka

Credits

Images in this exhibition are taken from the cd version of Hamiduzzaman Khan: A Modern Sculptor (First published in Bangladesh by Akhtar Jahan/Ivy, 2005; ISBN 984-32-2128-1). Biographical information is drawn from the introduction to the book by Professor Nazrul Islam. Our thanks to Hamiduzzaman Khan for his permission to use images and information from the book and to all the photographers responsible for the images in the book and our exhibition. The photographs are by: ark reepon, Hamiduzzaman Khan, Rahul, Zahidul Islam Khan, Mohidul Haque and Saiful Islam. The book may be ordered from Akhtar Jahan (Ivy), Sha - 46/A Badda (North), Gulshan, Dhaka-1212, Tel: 880-2-8614497. Price: 1600 Taka (Local) / 75 USD (International).