At a recent auction organised by renowned auction house Sotheby's in New York, two paintings by the Bangladeshi art maestro, revered as 'Shilpacharya' Zainul Abedin, fetched a record price, the highest on record for a Bangladeshi artist. Sotheby's, which was founded in London close to 300 years ago but is now headquartered in New York, recently organised an auction titled "Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art", where these two paintings were auctioned at record prices. According to the Sotheby's website, one of the two paintings, "Untitled (Couple)," which depicts a Santal couple (Oil on canvas, 1963), sold for $381,000, or around Tk 4,16,29,622 (Tk 4 crore 16 lakh 29 thousand 622) based on today's USD to BDT exchange rate ($1 = BDT 109.26). A hat worn by Napoleon sold for $2.1 million at an auction of the French emperor's belongings The other painting, also “Untitled” depicts a woman at rest, wearing a sky-blue saree and scarlet bangles, created between 1956 and 1963 using oil paints on board. This painting sold for USD 279,400, equivalent to approximately Tk 3,05,28,389 (3 crore 5 lakh 28 thousand 389). The first painting, which measures 102 cm in width and 135.5 cm in length, was initially estimated to be valued between 100,000 and 150,000 USD, according to the Sotheby's website. The second one, which measures 80.4 cm in length and 60.4 cm in breadth, was initially estimated to be valued between 80,000 and 120,000 USD. Both were from the Marker family collection, which the Sotheby's website referred to as “Property from The Estate of His Excellency Jamsheed K Marker and Diana J Marker.” BBC reports that both of them were close friends of Zainul Abedin. The Shilpacharya often visited the Marker couple's house and at that time introduced several famous South Asian artists to them. However, the website did not reveal the details of the buyers. Art collectors often prefer to remain anonymous. Princess Diana’s iconic black sheep sweater could fetch at least $50,000 at auction Art connoisseurs in the country opined that these two paintings are among the highest selling prices among Shilpacharya’s artworks. In early 2018, Christie's, the famous New York-based auction house, auctioned off another artwork by Zainul Abedin from the Santal series for Tk 1.5 crore in Bangladeshi currency.

An exhibition of paintings by Bangladeshi artist Rokeya Sultana marking the 50th anniversary of the India-Bangladesh relationship at the Lalit Kala Academy in New Delhi from October 23 has been postponed. Necessary arrangements were also made for the inauguration of the exhibition on Saturday, but the Indian government has ordered the postponement of the exhibition without showcasing any particular reason, according to Indian newspaper Anandabazar. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Leader of Congress party in Loksabha, and Chairperson, Public Accounts Committee, Parliament of India, slammed the decision via a tweet from his verified Twitter account on Friday. Read: Rokeya's art exhibition opens at Indian Cultural Centre “Bangladesi artist Rokeya Sultana's solo has been postponed without assigning any appropriate reasons. However the exhibition in India was organized by Indian Council of Cultural Relations in collaboration with Bengal Foundation,” he wrote.

Bangladeshi artist Fawaz Rob’s art work on the plight of Myanmar’s displaced citizens, Rohingyas, has been voted the best entry among all participants at the PenhArt International exhibition. Jurors and audience voted his art ‘Long Walk Home’ to be the best among eighty participants from all over the world, including France, Japan, the USA, and the UK. “I’m very delighted to receive this international award. An artist has the responsibility to stand up against the evil of his era,” said Fawaz Rob. Read Rehana Maryam Noor: The Bangladeshi Film in the prestigious list of Cannes “The dehumanization of Muslim communities across the world is the tragedy of our time. The agonies of Rohingyas, Palestinians, or Uyghurs are tactfully being ignored and international organizations have collectively failed these people. If my art can bring world attention to the sufferings of Rohingyas, then my purpose is served,” he added. Fawaz studied at universities in San Francisco (USA) and Florence (Italy). He is a practising architect and taught at NSU architecture department for 10 years.

Bangladeshi artist Imtiaj Rasel, who was in the running for this year's prestigious Sovereign Asian Art Prize, has bagged the Public Vote Prize. Rasel’s artwork, titled ‘Journey by Bus’, received the most votes from art admirers around the world. Of the 8,000 online votes, the convincing majority went to Rasel, the Sovereign Asian Art Prize authorities said. It was the only selected piece from Bangladesh, which competed in the online voting competition with 29 other artworks that got shortlisted for The 2021 Sovereign Asian Art Prize, from artists throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Read '50 Springs of Freedom’ art camp to begin in Chattogram on Independence Day Artist Rithika Merchant from India received the Vogue Hong Kong Women’s Art Prize in this year's edition, while the grand prize went to artist Li Binyuan from China.