SM SULTAN

10 August 1923 - 10 October 1994
Sheikh Mohammed Sultan was a Bangladeshi avant-garde artist who worked in painting and drawing. His fame rests on his striking depictions of exaggeratedly muscular Bangladeshi peasants engaged in the activities of their everyday lives. He was awarded the Ekushey Padak in 1982; the Bangladesh Charu Shilpi Sangsad Award in 1986; and the Independence Day Award in 1993.

Sketch: yafiz siddiqui

"No art is vulgar;
vulgarity is the
way of seeing it.

I paint on a large canvas
because my painting is
for the people not for
room decoration. 

Bangladesh is a haven
for landscape painters,
but unfortunately we do not have
any genuine landscape artist.

People often ask why I paint
muscular figures of feeble
peasants. My answer is I want
to portray their inner strength
that never gives in to any oppression."