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Dhaka Day by Day

Of Eucalyptus and Paddy Fields

by Fayza Haq
There are more focels to Mrs. Asma Ktbrta than just being a charming hostess and a caring mother. She is an artist who has presented life in Bangladesh to the world outside by working simply and diligently during her spare hours.
Mrs Ktbrta is much more than a Sunday painter. She has worked from daybreak to midday to Improve on her style and to present her compositions tn a more delectable manner It has been said about Mrs. *A Ktbrta s painting by
no less a per son than Zai nul Abedin In '66. during an RCD exhibition when she first met the
"No. no. you shouldn't stop. I see move ments and promise in your Unes. Qamrul Hassan. who spoke at her displays in 81. ’ also prai- ed the paint T as one with a future and determi nation. The arUsi naturally
these comments as it has not been easy for her to put in long hours of work with her busy schedule as a diplomats wife.
Yet the artist's preoccupation with her palette and canvas lias helped her fill many empty hours, when her children were away studying. and her husband was naturally at work. Paint-
ing. however, was not her passive pastime. Painting and singing has been in her family for years. T might have gone in for vocal music. I have sung Rablndra Sangeets and Nazrul Geetis at soirees abroad. Il is just that living overseas I've had very little opportunity to improve on my singing to any professional standard. I dared not venture into something tricky and messy as sculpture because Acrylic and oil paints were so much easier to manipulate."
The artist has always been inspired and influenced by the French Impressionistic painters in all her exhibitions held in Bangladesh. "Masters like Manet and Monet arc so easy to fall in love with. Moreover my first teacher was a French painter who himself was a great French Impressionist lover." she commented about her style.
She has progressed from the picturesque and idyllic presentations of flowers to the semi-abstract compositions of Nature, bringing in clouds, the sky and -rivers. At times, she explained. Tvc used photographs to develop my themes, as in Bangkok". It has always been her surroundings that have egged her on to perfect her work. Art connoisseurs will recall her array of eucalyptus trees which entered her canvas while her husband had been posted In Can berra.
She does not rush in for the gaudy but she loves her work to be throbbing with cheerful feminine colure such as lilacs and pinks. ”1 believe colour Is life” was her considered obser vatlon.
Mrs. Kibrlas style has been progressing, as she insisted vehemently hcrM-lf. She no longer
limits herself to the Impressionism.
She has ven-t u red bo Id ly into the world of the Abstract and the semi Abstract Is she not a bit wary of the uninitiated onlookers not comprehend! ng her Abstract efforts? "I tell people you don’t necessarily have to find a defi nite meaning In a painting.
The same piece of art will have various meanings and hold memories of different sorts for Individual viewers. Every picture does not have to tell an obvious story that could be spelt out and recorded.
As she changed her style and themes, what held her expositions together were the "unifying factor of the brush strokes and knife works.” she
said. Figure drawing excited her but it was Nature that sent her repeatedly to the canvas. In no way will she permit her paintings to stultify and stagnate despite her social and domestic chores and schedules.
The painter has held three solo exhibitions in Bangladesh in '72. '79 and ’81. She has had three displays in Bangkok between '83 and ’90. Canberra and Islamabad have viewed her canvases too. She has also ventured into group ex-hl bl lions at Geneva. Washington. Canberra and Bangkok.
A mother of two grown children, with 36 years of successful marriage behind her. Mrs. Klbrta with her unassuming manner and gentle ways, is lucky enough to have a husband who backs her all the way. ”1 enjoy sharing the glory." Mr. S. M. Klbrta beamed from the cane chair nearby. Even the subtle yellow ochre sari and muted bejwellcd carrings spoke of her inherent feminine qualities and serenity.