Sheikh Mohammed Sultan (Bangladeshi, 1923-1994) UntitledSheikh Mohammed Sultan (Bangladeshi, 1923-1994)Untitled signed 'S M Sultan' lower rightcolour pastel and charcoal on paper, framed26.5 x 35.3cm (10 7/16 x 13 7/8in).ProvenanceAcquired by the vendor from Ahmed Saeed Nagi's collection, which was inherited by his son; Nagi was a close friend of the artist.Ahmed Saeed Nagi was known as the 'official artist' of the Pakistan freedom movement, and was the first person to make a portrait of Quaid-e-Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He completed artwork at Governor House, Karachi, Governor House, Lahore and the Mohatta Palace, Karachi. In 1990 he was bestowed with the Pride of Performance Award by the Government of Pakistan, for his outstanding achievements as a painter.Sultan was born in Machimdia village, in what was then known as Jessore District, British India. He studied at the Government School of Art in Calcutta, where Mukul Dey, the pioneer of drypoint-etching in India was Principal. Under Dey's tutelage, students were encouraged to paint contemporary landscapes and portraits reflecting their own experiences, as opposed to painting Indian allegorical, mythological and historical subjects or copying the Old Masters.Sultan absorbed what he was taught and created a visual language that makes him of the pioneers of Bangladeshi modernism. He repeatedly depicted the same subject, village scenes and his trademark included illustrating peasants with exaggerated muscular physiques. The three works on offer in this auction are from the 1960s. In these works on paper, we see the beginnings of what is to come in his works in the 1970s and 1980s, with the slight exaggeration of the female bodies as seen in (Untitled Figures in a Landscape). To view other works on paper from this period, see Eye for Art, Sheikh Mohammad Sultan Exhibition: Works on Paper, 23rd March - 11th April 2022.