Kalidas Karmakar

Kalidas Karmakar (Bangladesh, b. 1946-2019) was one of Bangladesh’s most recognized contemporary artists. Karmakar began his artistic career in the early 1970s. He trained at the East Pakistan College of Arts and Crafts (currently known as University of Dhaka Faculty of Fine Arts, where he later taught) and at the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Calcutta. His diverse body of work features found objects, handmade paper, and oil on canvas prints. His works have been widely exhibited throughout South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. He received fellowships for research and creative works from the governments of Poland, France, Japan, Italy, Germany, Iran, and India. In 2006, Karmakar received an Asian Cultural Council Fellowship to undertake a residency at PointB Worklodge in Brooklyn, New York. Exhibiting his works in over fifty countries, Karmakar earned prestigious awards, including the Shilpakala Award (2017), awarded by the President of Bangladesh for lifetime achievement in the arts, as well as the country’s highest cultural award, the Ekushey Padak (2018).