Eminent artist Murtaja Baseer no more

Renowned artist Murtaza Baseer passed away on Saturday at a hospital in the capital on Saturday. He was 88.Family sources said, he breathed his last at 9:10 am while undergoing treatment at the ICU unit of Evercare Hospital.

He was admitted to the hospital due to severe respiratory problem and reduction of oxygen consumption rate, along with other old age problems.Doctors confirmed that he was Covid-19 positive on Friday night.His namaz-e-janaza was held in front of his residence at the capital's Manipuripara. He was buried at Banani graveyard after Asr prayers following COVID-19 protocol.

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinaexpressed profound shock and sorrow at the death of artist Murtaja Baseer.In separate condolence messages, they prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed sympathy to the bereaved family.

Murtaja Baseer, son of famous linguist Dr Muhammad Shahidullah, was born on August 17 in 1932 in Dhaka's Ramna.He was the chairman of the Fine Arts Department at Chattogram University.

Baseer began his formal education at the Nabakumar Institution in Dhaka. Later, he furthered his studies at the Coronation Institution in Bogura, the Dhaka Government Institute of Arts (now the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka) and the Asutosh Museum in Kolkata.

He also studied painting and fresco at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in Italy and later on, mosaics and prints at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts and the Academy Goethe in Paris.

Baseer started his professional career in 1955 as a drawing teacher at Nawabpur Government High School in Dhaka. He later joined Chattogram University in 1973 as an assistant professor in the Department of Fine Arts before his retiring as a professor in 1998.

Baseer took an active part in the political campaigns of the Communist Party in 1950 and would later spend five months in Dhaka Central Jail.He was at the forefront of the Language Movement of 1952, the Liberation War of 1971 and the anti-authoritarian movement of the 1990s.

He made a linocut painting of the Feb 21 incident titled 'Roktakto Ekushey' which was first printed in 1953. It is considered the first painting on the Language Movement, according to the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.

The art maestro received numerous accolades, including the country's highest civilian awards -- the Ekushey Padak and the Shadhinota Puroshkar.Baseer married Amina Bashir in 1962. After losing his wife in 2017, he formed the Amina Bashir Memorial Trust.He is survived by his three children.