Zainul Abedin was a master printmaker, who pioneered the modern art movement in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), establishing the first art college in Dhaka. Both Abedin and other artists like Chittaprosad extensively documented the inhuman conditions in Bengal during the early 1940s, when the people’s adversities were worsened by the notorious famine of 1943. In Abedin's prints, such as the one here, we are shown the miserable suffering of starving people with no help or hope in sight. The abject figure—sitting hunched over with his head resting on his knees—is steeped in pathos and misery.
Zainul Abedin
Untitled
1942
Woodcut on newsprint paper
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Zainul Abedin
Untitled
1942
Woodcut on newsprint paper
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