Ekushey Padak winning artist Kalidas Karmakar, a painter and printmaker of international repute, passed away on Friday (Oct 18). He was 73.
“He fell down in the bathroom after suffering a cardiac arrest around 1:30pm at his Eskaton home. He was taken to Labaid Specialized Hospital where the doctor pronounced him dead around 2pm,” Sourav Chowdhury, the executive art director of Gallery Cosmos, was quoted by news agency UNB as saying.
The body was later kept at BIRDEM General Hospital. His mortal remains will be cremated after his two daughters return to Bangladesh from the US.
Kalidas Karmakar was an adviser of Gallery Cosmos.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina mourned the death of the internationally acclaimed artist.
In a condolence message, she said Kalidas was especially acclaimed among the artists for his experimental artworks. “His artworks will continue to inspire the new generations.”
Born on Jan 10, 1946, in Faridpur, Kalidas completed his graduation from the Government College of Fine Arts and Crafts in Kolkata in 1969.
He completed his pre-degree study in Fine Arts at Dhaka University’s Institute of Fine Arts in 1964.
Kalidas was awarded the Shilpakala Padak in 2016 and the Ekushey Padak in 2018 for his contribution to fine arts.
His diverse artworks featuring found objects, handmade paper, and oil on canvas prints have been widely exhibited throughout South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.
The artist’s very first solo art exhibition was held at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on August 7, 1976.
He won the Polish Government Scholarship in Graphic Art at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Art, Warsaw University; French Government Superior Scholarship in Fine Arts, for research in multicolour etching at Atelier-17, in Paris; Japan Foundation Fellowship on Japanese Woodblock Printing at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music; ICCR Special Scholarship for research in Contemporary Modern Sculpture, West Bengal Lalit Kala Academy Studio; and Asian Cultural Council New York, Fellowship with Artist Residency program in the US.
In 2006, he had received an ACC Fellowship to participate in a residency at the PointB Worklodge in Brooklyn.
Major works by the artist have been collected by Kihak Sung, Youngone Corporation, Korea and Bangladesh; Hiroshi Toda; Takeo Yamaki; Takashi Kobayashi; Abul Khair, Chairman of Bengal Foundation; Ambassador Paulo Da Costa Franco, and many other private collectors, at home and abroad.