The 101st birth anniversary of SM Sultan, the celebrated Bangladeshi artist renowned for his powerful depictions of rural life and the physical vitality of its people, is being observed today.
The Sultan Birth Centenary Celebration Committee has organised a commemorative programme titled The Legacy Artist Sultan at Bengal Shilpalay in Dhanmondi, Dhaka.
In addition, a seven-day event marking the centenary will be inaugurated at Dhaka University, featuring an exhibition of Sultan’s works, film screenings, and discussions.
Filmmaker Nurul Alam Atique, who edited a 1990 issue of the literary magazine Nree dedicated to Sultan, has also begun production on a film about the artist titled Lal Mia.
Born on 10 August 1924 in Machimdia, Narail, Sheikh Mohammed Sultan—popularly known as SM Sultan—showed an early passion for art but left school due to financial hardship.
With the support of local zamindar Dhirendra Nath Roy, he enrolled at the Government Art College in Kolkata, leaving midway in 1943. He worked as a freelance portrait and landscape painter in Kolkata under the mentorship of Hasan Shaheed Suhrawardy, before embarking on travels across the subcontinent.
Influenced by the Khaksar Movement in 1943, Sultan embraced a holistic worldview and developed a deep lifelong empathy for living beings. His paintings, often monumental in scale, depicted muscular peasants and rural working men and women, blending realism with a sense of heroic dignity.
By his twenties, Sultan’s works had been exhibited in Shimla (1946), Lahore and Karachi (1948–49). In 1959, his art was shown in New York, Boston, Michigan University, and London—preceding his first exhibition in Bangladesh at the Shilpakala Academy in 1976.
In 1982, Cambridge University honoured him as the “Man of Asia”. The same year, he received the Ekushey Padak, followed by the Bangladesh Charu Shilpi Sangsad Award in 1986 and the Independence Award in 1993.
SM Sultan, known for his ascetic and nomadic lifestyle, died on 10 October 1994, leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire generations of artists.
SMS/
