Art Of The People

My main focus is always on printmaking. Being a student of printmaking, is-my continuous endeavour is to do some research on printmaking and to gather in-depth knowledge in the field of graphic arts. In Bangladesh, in 2007,I had a chance to do some research on Bangladesh printmaking as a contributor of Cultural Surveys of Bangladesh published by the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. During my research on Bangladesh printmaking, I also studied the international history of printmaking, and learned that the art of printmaking was originated inChina, so this time I came to China to prolong my research.This time the theme of my studies is a comparison between China and Bangladesh printmaking in social aspect and also the introduction of Bangladesh printmaking in a wide scale. Soon after I came to China this time around, I had a meeting with my much respected professor Guang Jun, and we had a long discussion about print practice of China and Bangladesh. It was then that I decided to do a comparative study of both countries’printmaking. In general, compared to China’s long history of printmaking, Bangladesh’s is very young. So it made more sense to compare them only on the basis of socially inspired printmaking. There are some similarity between China and Bangladesh printmaking, especially during the period between 1930s and 1950s, which was a time of socialist movement in both countries. In the 1930s in Shanghai, the printmaking movement that stormed under the guidance of writer Lu Xun was the most important part of the history of Chinese modern printmaking. This wave also spread out around other Asian countries like Bangladesh and India. So in my thesis I highlighted this part of the history of Chinese printmaking and also compared it with Bangladesh.I divided my thesis into three segments:first the introduction; second, a particular emphasis on Bangladesh art and printmaking, which reflect the social condition and struggle of the Bangladeshi people; and in the final segment I have drawn a comparison between China and Bangladesh in the basis of socially inspired printmaking. This last segment is very important to me because it is the main objective of the thesis. I divided this portion into three parts:first a comparison on the basis of Buddhism, because during the Buddhist era, there was a great cultural exchange between the two countries; and then, a comparison in the grounds of folk art, because I feel folk art always portrays the aspiration of mass peoples and always acts as peoples art. Finally I made an elaborate comparison and discussion on modern printmaking and its social aspect both in China and Bangladesh. In this segment I include some examples of history of modern printmaking and history of painting on the basis of social consciousness, and then I discuss in more detail the printmaking of China and Bangladesh, which are inspired by contemporary socialist movements.In the portion dedicated to China, I pay special attention to the printmaking movement in Shanghai during the 1930s and 1940s, which was led by writer Lu Xun. In the part concerning Bangladesh, I place emphasis on printmaking practice during the 1940s and 1950s, which was mostly inspired by left-oriented communist ideology, and was also inspired by the Chinese school of left-leaning graphic art. I have tried my best to include examples as I discuss the subject and have tried to make this thesis successful as a whole. I always acknowledge Professor Yi Ying, whose valuable suggestions have enriched my knowledge and my thesis as well.