Late artist Murtaja Baseer (1932-2020) passed an eventful creative life. Few artists are fortunate enough to be able to lead their lives in a dignified freedom like that of Baseer. Son of Dr Muhammad Shahidullah, a legendary Bengalee scholar and linguist, he began showing his flair for the unconventional as he reached youth. In his long period of creativity, he remained an artist who abhorred double-standard and all kinds of deceit. Due to his outspokenness, he at one point of time found himself without trustworthy friends, and lonely. He had been uncompromising and defiant all along; few 'hypocrites' were spared his ruthless attack in writing. However, at the same time Baseer was impeccably humane, empathetic and ever prepared to stand by those persecuted. Thanks to his multi-faceted artist's career and untiring prolificacy, Murtaja Baseer made himself stand out in style, which is unique to him only, in the Bangladesh art world.
The common notion about writers and painters, for that matter everyone belonging to the broader area of the arts, is they are 'otherworldly'. They are detached from mundane realities. They love to remain detached from the pains and bruises of survival and move about in a utopian world. A number of them do live in these self-spun cocoons. But as survival becomes harder with time wearing on, writers and painters keep emerging with completely new messages.
In the relatively modern world, the Elizabethan period to be precise, Shakespeare pioneered this literary genre in Britain. In a sense, the Bard had led the birth of rebels in poets, playwrights, essayists etc of the later centuries. Like Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Walt Whitman, Charles Baudelaire and many others, they continue to emerge today. Likewise, in the world of painting the eras of Renoir, Constable et al had to give way to Van Gogh, Gauguin, and much later, Pablo Picasso and the other fiercely modernists. They are dominated by the surrealists, spectacularly led by Salvador Dali. Upon comparing the productions by the works of the classicists and the rebels of the later periods, the difference between their creative temperaments becomes evident.
Although in a loose judgement Zainul Abedin, Qamrul Hasan and Murtaja Baseer belong to the same artistic era, Abedin remains a pure classicist. Barring his impeccably done portrayals of the Bengal famine of the 1950s, the otherwise great artist remains confined to the group of 'purists'. Had it not been for his 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War works, filled with protest against and hatred for the demonic forces letting loose a barbaric genocide, Qamrul would have been kept confined to his village portrayals. Nevertheless, some of those works by both Zainul and Qamrul were great pieces of art. Befitting his dissident nature, Murtaja Baseer trod a different path altogether. Prior to his settling down for vivacious portraits of young ladies, Baseer had already demonstrated his preference for political themes. Earlier, the artist became an active member of the communist party's student wing to become a full-time party member. All this happened in the 1950s, when he had just crossed his adolescence.
Perhaps to prove, though unwittingly, his camaraderie with a political movement vital to the people of East Bengal, he one day found himself actively participating in the 1952 Bangla Language Movement. Baseer illustrated the cover of 'Ekushey February', the first ever souvenir dedicated to the Language Movement and its martyrs. Edited by Poet Hasan Hafizur Rahman and published in 1953, almost all major young poets, story writers, essayists and other authors of the time spontaneously wrote in it. It was the age of defiance and protest against the unjust diktats of the rulers. The people of East Bengal, especially the student community, vehemently rejected the then Pakistan central government's plan to make Urdu the state language of the country including its Bengalee dominated eastern wing.
Along with the street protests and the martyrdom of students, the 'Ekushey February' publication eked out for itself a historic place among all the anti-government movements later. They paved the way for the 1971 Liberation War and, eventually, the birth of independent Bangladesh. Meanwhile, the Pakistani autocratic ruling clique had by then accepted Bangla as one of the state languages of Pakistan.
Murtaja Baseer's assertive dissent about the prevailing system found its first open expression in the Language Movement. Later during his 60-year-long painting career he had proved himself a purely pro-people artist. Starting from nature, struggling humans, major national events to beautiful female figures, he had left little aspects of life untouched in his works. In spite of this variety, an undercurrent of the willingness to remain involved with the common people had always prompted him to choose his subjects from day-to-day reality. Remaining attuned to the vast area of realism eventually became his forte. Being an artist trained in Italy's Florence and Paris in France he got the opportunity to find many emerging artists as his close acquaintances.
Besides, friendship with lots of major contemporary overseas painters, watching the works of all-time greats at the galleries of European cities contributed to the fast expansion of his creative horizon. Baseer, however, remained attached to the school of realism. A section of art critics define him as a socially committed artist. According to them, the artist honed this commitment as he matured in a repeatedly turbulent pre-independence Bangladesh.
Baseer believed in attaining perfection in his works through continued practice. He would not organise a solo exhibition until he felt convinced that it was the right time for such a one-person show. Compared to many other Bangladeshi painters, Baseer's total number of solo exhibition throughout his 60-year career was not much. He had been taking preparations to organise a large solo a couple years before he fell ill. It would have presented a complete portrayal of the artist and his works to his countless admirers. In spite of his 89-year healthy life, destiny did not allow him to live a little further to demonstrate his creative buoyancy. This is how life plays its unfathomably enigmatic trick on humans.
Murtaja Baseer had all along been filled with seemingly endless physical and creative energy. A few months after reaching 80, he is said to have boasted of his ability to run a couple of miles daily in order to remain fit. It also applies to his art works. Although done at old age, those paintings were evocative of a rare vibrancy.
Despite leading an eventful life, few of the painters of Bangladesh attempt to write autobiographies. Murtaja Baseer wrote one called 'Aamar Jibon O Onyanyo'. He also has collections of poetry and several novels to his credit. For his contribution to the broader field of the arts, he was honoured with the Ekushey Padak. The dissident nature of Baseer became clear during his very early youth. As the son of Dr Muhammad Shahidullah, he came to be known as Murtaja Baseer Ullah. One day, he informed his father that he had dropped the part of 'Ullah', evidently to give the name a 'smart' look. The speechless father didn't engage in any debate over his son's irreverent act. Baseer was adamant to study at the then Dhaka Art College. Dr Shahidullah had long dreamt of sending his son to the then prestigious Aligarh Muslim University in India. Noticing lukewarm response from the son, the father requested him to get enrolled in Tagore's Shantiniketan.
Dr Shahidullah had sensed Baseer's artistic genius. He didn't put further pressure on his son. Baseer got himself admitted to his dream institution --- Dhaka Art College, now the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Dhaka. It didn't take long for Murtaja Baseer to emerge as a young art student with extraordinary talent. He attracted special attention of all the teachers, a few of whom being revered figures in the art world of the sub-continent. Few of his mentors could perhaps realise that their highly self-confident, rebellious and ever-innovative Baseer would one day grow into a living legend in the Bangladesh art world.
shihabskr@ymail.com