Profile - Hashem Khan

Hashem Khan

General Information

Painter

Painter, Writer

Full Name: Md. Abul Hashem Khan

Affiliation: Bangladesh National Museum

Current Position: Former Chairman

Date of Birth: July 01, 1941

Place of Birth: Bangladesh

Home District: Chandpur

Nationality: Bangladeshi

Profile:

Hashem Khan (born 01 July 1941) is a famous painter of Bangladesh. His paintings mostly focus rural life of Bangladesh. He has important contribution to enrich Bangladeshi art and culture. Khan participated in Bangladesh liberation war and his many artworks on the war. He was the former chairman of Bangladesh National Museum. He received the Ekushey Padakl in 1992. In 2011, Khan was awarded the Independence Day Award by the Government of Bangladesh for his contribution.

Khan's full name is Md. Abul Hashem Khan. He was born in Sekdi village of Faridganj upazila of Chandpur district. His father's name is Mohammad Yusuf Khan. He was the then health officer of Comilla district and mother Nurnessa Khanum, housewife. Khan is the 6th child among 14 children of parents.

Khan's education began at Munsibari Primary School in the village. After studying there for some time, he went to Chandra Imam Ali High School and College of Faridganj Upazila in 1949. Later he was admitted to Hasan Ali High School in Chandpur sadar. He passed matriculation from that school in 1956. After his own interest, he was admitted to the then Government Art College (now Institute of Fine Arts, Dhaka University). In 1961, he obtained a first class bachelor's degree in painting. From 1961-1963, he worked as a Research Scholar in Pottery on a scholarship from the Asia Foundation. In 1979, he received a short-term training in children's book illustration in Tokyo, Japan.

Khan joined Dhaka University Fine Arts Institute in 1963 as a professor in Oriental Art Department. In addition, he worked as the chief artist for the decoration of the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh in 1972. In 1973, he held exhibitions in Kolkata, Delhi and Bombay in charge of the contemporary art of Bangladesh. Represented Bangladesh in Tokyo, Czechoslovakia in 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1989 at the Children's Book Artists' Conference in Japan on the occasion of the International Year of the Child 1979. He has led numerous training workshops at home and abroad. During his illustrious career, he served as a member of the Jury Board and Implementation Expert Committee (1997-2000) of the 'Freedom Pillar' to be constructed at Suhrawardy Udyan. He was an expert member of the steering committee (of 3 members) for implementation of National Art Gallery, National Theater and National Center for Music and Dance. He played an important role in the establishment of Dhaka City Museum and Bangabandhu Memorial Museum. Apart from designing the textbooks for primary to higher secondary level, he has formulated the curriculum for fine arts at secondary and higher secondary levels. He has written 5 books on the subject from sixth to eleventh-twelfth standard.