Dhaka’s arts and tradition scene could well well no longer retain a candle to the grandeur of the realm’s valuable metropolises. However silent you’ll want to per chance per chance well well per chance in discovering a handful of fleshy-fledged artwork galleries alongside smaller, extra modest gallery outlets scattered across town, showcasing and selling the creations of native artists.
But, rewind fifty years, and the panorama used to be vastly varied. Relief then, the foundation of shopping for, gathering, or keeping artwork used to be unheard of, and in discovering admission to to artwork used to be removed from usual.
The mid-seventies marked a turning level for Dhaka’s artwork scene, largely due to the the efforts of Ramiz Ahmed Chowdhury, affectionately is named Saju contained in the artwork community. Saju turned into a pioneering figure in the promotion of Bangladeshi artwork, one of many fundamental to champion the series, exhibition, and commercialisation of native artists’ work.
At a time when no formal structure existed for artists to showcase their creations or fraction their visions, Saju’s initiatives had been nothing attempting innovative. What could well well appear cherish a modest accomplishment on the present time used to be, essentially, a transformative moment for town. Via his artwork gallery endeavours, Saju no longer most efficient nurtured native talent nevertheless also created an crucial ingenious hub in a city that desperately wished one.
One in every of the pioneers of pattern of artwork in the country, a lifelong connoisseur and enthusiast of artwork and finest recognised for founding Saju Art work Gallery, Ramiz Ahmed Chowdhury Saju handed away to passe age issues around 2:30 PM on 7 December on the age of 82.
But, Saju left in the lend a hand of excess of recollections—he left a legacy. His contributions to the growth and accessibility of Bangladeshi artwork in discovering ensured that on the present time’s artists in discovering a platform to thrive, and for that, he’ll repeatedly be remembered with gratitude.
Saju, a local of Cox’s Bazar, relocated to Dhaka as a teen, where he discovered his ardour for artwork by his connections and friendships with active artists and painters in town. On the time, selling artwork relied closely on divulge interplay between artists and traders.
Leveraging the community he had cultivated, Saju began appearing as a bridge between the 2, facilitating transactions and gaining traction in the technique. By 1974, he turned into his rising success valid into a proper industry, renting a store on the fundamental ground of what used to be then is named Gulshan DIT Market and launching ‘Saju Arts and Crafts’.
Before the total thing set having started out with framing work, Saju’s industry flourished over the next couple of years. He expanded gradually, acquiring extra store spaces, and by the mid-eighties, ‘Saju Art work Gallery’ had remodeled valid into a prominent institution in Gulshan which could well without mutter accommodate up to 60-70 artwork objects. The gallery’s gargantuan structure and brave series of artworks turned into a magnet for artwork enthusiasts, while even informal market-goers discovered themselves drawn to the gallery, captivated by the nice thing about the displayed objects.
“Throughout these cases, selling artwork by a gallery used to be extraordinarily hard from a industry level of scrutinize. Folk did no longer know valuable about artwork, selling them used to be a total varied ball sport and Saju bhai, in a blueprint, revolutionised it,” says revered artist Kanak Chanpa Chakma.
Saju Art work Gallery had a noble motive—to blend the promotion of native artwork with the practicalities of commerce. This ambitious imaginative and prescient used to be warmly embraced by the ingenious community, who supported Saju in each and every that you just’ll want to per chance per chance well well per chance mediate of blueprint to relief his enterprise succeed.
“Slowly it turned into a fleshy-fledged series of assorted artists. From Bangladesh, nearly each and every licensed artist had their artwork exhibited there,” reminisces Goutam Chakroborty, founder of Uttara’s Galleri Kaya.
Saju organised an annual exhibition on the gallery, while the comfort of the year used to be dedicated to selling artwork. Building an artwork market from the bottom up demanded relentless effort, and Saju poured his energy into laying a solid foundation. He turned into a key figure in entertaining traders, cultivating a convention that valued and invested in artwork.
Throughout that time, artists had miniature alternatives to relieve themselves by their craft. Many relied on work with textbook boards, non-public publishers, or promoting agencies to contain ends meet. Saju stepped in to bridge the gap by gathering works from quite so a lot of artists and exhibiting them. When these objects supplied, they supplied valuable-wished financial toughen to the creators.
He would on the total aquire artwork in bulk from younger artists, paying them at as soon as. Despite the proven truth that the portions could well well no longer had been enormous, they had been valuable ample to relief these artists turn out to be successful from their creations. In his contain blueprint, Saju helped meet the needs of artists and unfolded original alternatives for them to thrive in their career.
“One can’t fail to identify the benefits Saju’s gallery introduced to artists. It supplied a platform for his or her work to abolish visibility, which, in turn, helped carry artwork into the nice spheres of day after day existence,” says feeble artist Hashem Khan who used to be one of many fundamental few artists that Saju related himself with after relocating to Dhaka.
“The best doubtless blueprint he uplifted the artwork scene can’t be overstated, and for that, we artists stay deeply grateful to him,” Hashem added.
One other facet of the gallery that made it stand apart used to be its contribution to the publicity of our native artwork and artists to foreigners and diplomats. Gulshan, appearing as a hub for many foreign residents or consultants, Saju repeatedly passe to retain expert relationships with them. Over the a long time, this resulted in swimming pools of foreigners coming into Saju Art work Gallery and shopping for part of Bangladeshi artwork.
“Saju Art work Gallery largely displayed and supplied used artworks. Artwork of flora, rainy days, villages, and rickshaws filled Saju’s gallery. Since it used to be a effectively maintained industrial rental, many foreigners would talk to him and would streak away with a memento, an outline of Bangladesh,” says artist Nazia Andaleeb Preema, who also had just a few her contain solo exhibitions on the very gallery.
Saju’s ardour for artwork used to be so profound that he ensured his eldest son studied at an artwork college. To this present day, his son continues to uphold Saju’s legacy by managing the gallery. Even one of Saju’s youthful brothers used to be as soon as fervent with the gallery’s operations. Sadly, in his later years, Saju suffered from prolonged illness, which lastly claimed him. Now or no longer it is up to his son and the be aware day artists whom he impacted, to retain on the legacy of Ramiz Ahmed Chowdhury Saju.
