Narail, a small district in the south-west, has gifted many short-lived people who have made outstanding contributions to the development of Bengali art and culture. Painter SM Sultan, international dancer Uday Shankar, renowned seta player Pandit Ravi Shankar, creator of the subcontinent’s famous detective character ‘Kiriti Roy’ Dr. Nihar Ranjan Gupta, musician Kamal Dasgupta, poet Vijay Sarkar are the children of Narail. This district has also made an invaluable contribution to the great war of liberation. Narail is the proud birthplace of Bir Shrestha Nur Mohammad Sheikh. SM Sultan is a unique name in our art and literature world. His full name is Sheikh Mohammad Sultan. However, his father’s name was Lal Mia in his childhood. This talented artist was born on August 10, 1923, in the village of Machimdia in Narail. There is a beautiful river Chitra in Narail. SM Sultan continued to grow together with that image. He was admitted to the school even though his family could not afford it. But the strict rules of the school were against his nature. It is as if the Sultan was born with a free soul like a bird.
Father Sheikh Mohammad Messer Ali was a mason. But to the Sultan, his father was an artist. The Sultan’s father made many designs of the then zamindar’s house. Sultan saw the works from afar, which inspired him to become an artist later. Even though he was admitted, he did not like studying under the school’s strict rules and spending time feeling nature. Sometimes sitting in class and sometimes sitting on the bank of the river, Chitra used to sketch. The school teacher Rangalal noticed the matter. Looking at the Sultan’s book, he realized that one of the artists was living in it. He wanted to build that entity within the Sultan. He took the Sultan to his own house. There Rangalal gave all his knowledge to the Sultan.
Arang, the eldest daughter of Randall, used to study together with the Sultan. The Sultan fell in love with Aurora. But Randall never accepted their relationship. Aurora gets married elsewhere. As a result, he moved to Narail. He brought with him Nakshikantha made by Aurora. He used to give this Kantha under his head.
Although he wanted to go to Calcutta to learn art, the Sultan did not have the financial means. Dhirendra Nath Dutta, the zamindar of the area, assisted him in this. Sultan passed the admission test at Calcutta Art School and won first place. But he did not have the institutional qualifications to be admitted there. Industry critic Shahid Suhrawardy assisted him in getting admitted there. At this time, Shahid Suhrawardy changed his name from Lal Mia to SM Sultan (Sheikh Mohammad Sultan). Although he did well in art school, he left art school before the final exams and continued to travel around the country and abroad. He started living with the tribals in Kashmir. They began to draw their way of life. Bohemian was his way of life. This man, who was opposed to propaganda, was also indifferent to his work. He has traveled to many places in his life. You left it where you worked. Thus much of the Sultan’s work was lost forever.
The first exhibition of Sultan’s paintings was held in Shimla in association with Mrs. Hudson, a Canadian woman. In 1948, the Sultan’s solo exhibition was held in Lahore. The Sultan’s paintings were exhibited simultaneously with artists such as Picasso and Salvador Dali at an exhibition in Europe. The Sultan returned to the country in 1953 after exhibiting about 20 paintings at home and abroad. When he returned, he did not get a job in Dhaka. Because he did not have the institutional qualifications to teach. He later returned to the village. His place in the village was also evicted. Fame at home and abroad could not keep him away from the village. The content of his paintings was different. He did not draw the city. He did not adopt the type of abstract art of so-called modern painting. He painted in a way that ordinary people could easily understand. He drew people, farmers, women,
children, plants, village scenes. Looking at his pictures, one can understand how his devotion to nature was.
Syed Manjurul Islam said in this regard,
“Physiology is the main thing for him. He did not practice modern, abstract art. His modernity was to establish the eternal feeling and roots of life. He did not emphasize the examination of form but gave rise to the inner strength of man, the struggle against colonial power, and the various manifestations of colonial struggle in the light of the demands of the time. This is what he called ‘modernity’, meaning he explored the world of human work, much like the European Renaissance artists, instead of the Eurocentric, city-dependent, mechanized modernity. “
SM Sultan’s style of drawing was varied. In his hands, the village’s peasants, their wives, children, and even the cows became much more significant than usual. Muscular men and healthy women are featured in his pictures. But in reality, the farmers are deprived of benefits. They are lean, and their oxen are lean. So the Sultan has made them strong in his imagination. Because farmers play the most significant role in shaping the country, he described his painting style as-.
“People in our country are very sick and thin. A farmer, he is also very thin, he has two cows and two oxen — they are also very thin. I imagine that they are strong in my film. I have tried to portray them as I love them from the bottom of my heart. It was this peasant community of our country that once built the British Empire. They provide the country’s finances. The giant body of the farmer in my giant pictures raises the question, why are they thin? Why are they sick — those who feed us, grow crops. They should be strong.”
The Sultan was no ordinary man. He could live a luxurious life if he wanted to. He could have become the center of attention by capitalizing on his fame and respect. But he has given up everything and taken the path of struggle, the path of suffering. He wanted to be close to life. So his work was different from the so-called normal. He spent the night sitting under a tree in the forest. His living room was full of snakes. Shiva is also staying in the temple. He fed many cats. He had a small zoo. He could play the flute strangely beautifully. He could also play the tabla. After sari, she used to dance with her legs strangely. He wore a cloak — long hair on the head. The Sultan seemed to be stuck in his world.
Back in the country, he suddenly became interested in educating children. He built several schools. Nandan Kanan Primary School, Nandan Kanan High School, and Kurigram Fine Art School. In 1983, he set up the Academy of Fine Arts in Jessore, now known as Charupith. He used to teach drawing to children every Friday. He built a boat for twelve lakh rupees to draw small children. Many children could draw on that boat together.
Sultan said,
“A child who draws beautiful pictures, draws pictures of his village, draws beautiful flowers, draws his animals, draws plants, he can never commit a crime, he can never hurt anyone.”
The Sultan has received many awards at home and abroad. In 1982, Sultan was awarded the Man of Achievement Award by the Biographical Center of Cambridge University. The talented artist has received Ekushey Padak and Swadhinata Padak. In 1974, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy declared him an ‘Artist in Residence.’ In January 1994, Dhaka’s ‘Gallery Ton’ was the last exhibition of Sultan’s paintings. The Sultan passed away on October 10, 1994. Leave one history, one ideal. That ideal will teach future artists for ages how to selflessly dedicate themselves to art.