Background
Sheikh Mohammed Sultan was born on August 10, 1923 in Machimdia village, Jessore District, British India (present-day Narail District, Bangladesh).
Sheikh Mohammed Sultan was born on August 10, 1923 in Machimdia village, Jessore District, British India (present-day Narail District, Bangladesh).
Initially, Sultan was educated at Narail Victoria Collegiate School. Since 1941 to 1944, he studied at the Government School of Art (present-day Government College of Art & Craft).
In 1944, Sultan left Government School of Art and started traveling around India. He made portraits and this way earned for a living.
The artist held his first solo exhibition, which took place in Shimla, India, in 1946.
In the early 1950s, he exhibited his works at the Institute of International Education (IIE) in New York, the YMCA in Washington, D.C., the International House of the University of Chicago and at Michigan University in Ann Arbor.
Some time later, Sultan traveled to England, where he participated in the annual open-air group exhibition at Victoria Embankment Gardens, Hampstead, London.
He also held the post of an art teacher at a school in Karachi, where he got acquainted with such Pakistani artists, as Abdur Rahman Chughtai and Shakir Ali.
After spending time in Kashmir, Sultan returned to his native Narail in 1953, where he settled down in an abandoned building.
Sultan created some of his best work in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1976, his works were exhibited at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. The following year, he was selected as a member of the panel of judges for the Asian Art Biennale in Dhaka.
Sultan received several awards during his lifetime, such as Ekushey Padak in 1982, Bangladesh Charu Shilpi Sangsad Award in 1986 and Independence Day Award in 1993.
The painter's most important works are First Plantation, Char Dakhal, Harvesting and Fishing-3.
His work "Harvesting" (1986) is listed by the Bangladesh National Museum as one of its 100 renowned objects.
The painter also established Kurigram Fine Arts Institute in 1969 and Charupeeth School of Fine Art in 1973.
