The New Nation - Internet Edition

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The 84th birth anniversary of renowned artist SM Sultan observed yesterday at his village home in Narail.

Masumdia village in Narail where he was born on 10 August 1924 and built his 'Shishu Swarga' or 'heaven for children' weared a festive look with various organisations chalked out various programmes to celebrate the birthday.

The SM Sultan National Birth Celebration Committee 2008 has chalked out day-long elaborate programmes to mark the birthday of the celebrated painter, who devoted more than half of his lifetime to painting in solitude.

On this day in 1924, Sultan nicknamed Lal Mia, was born in an ordinary family of Masumdia village in Narail. Sultan hit the headlines in the art world much before the people of his own homeland knew him as a painter. His paintings were exhibited in Simla of India in 1946, Lahore and Karachi of Pakistan in 1948-49, New York, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, London and Michigan University in 1959, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in 1976 and German Cultural Centre, Dhaka in 1986. His artworks were jointly shown in Victoria Embankment, London in 1953 and Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in 1993 with nine famous artists' artworks.

He joined the International Conference of Painters in America in 1950 as the representative of the Pakistan Government. He also spent some years in Kolkata, studying and paintings. Later he sank into obscurity and settled in Narail in 1953, devoting his time to painting nature at his village home until his death on October 10, 1994.

Leading a very simple life far away from the madding crowd at his village home, the selfless painter spent most of his life completely engrossed in paint and brush.