ABDUS SHAKOOR SHAH
Abdus Shakoor Shah’s practice is defined by a motif-driven visual language that draws from rural Bengali art, folklore, literary heritage, and the cultural landscapes of Mymensingh and surrounding regions. Working primarily through painting and drawing, his works articulate a synthesis of figurative abstraction and symbolic patterning, shaped by a sustained engagement with location-specific traditions and the pursuit of an indigenous visual language grounded in lived experience.
Born in Bogura in 1947, Shah is a prominent figure in contemporary Bangladeshi art. He studied at the Faculty of Fine Art, University of Dhaka, where he trained under Rashid Choudhury, whose pedagogy emphasized the integration of local cultural heritage with European modernist frameworks. He later completed a Post-Diploma in Fine Arts at the University of Baroda, India, where he was influenced by K. G. Subramanyan’s approach to context-responsive and socially grounded artistic practice. These formative experiences established the foundation for Shah’s sustained commitment to culturally rooted visual expression.
His works are held in significant public and private collections in Bangladesh and abroad, including the Bangladesh National Art Gallery, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, and Bangladesh National Museum, as well as international collections such as Mustra de Grafica (Italy), Osaka Prefectural Foundation of Culture (Japan), Enrique Hudson Library (Argentina), and Galerie Charles de Gounod (La Réunion, France) among many others.
Major Accolades:
Best Prize - Lalitkala Academy Award, Triennale India, Gujarat, India (1977)
Excellence Award, Tokyo, Japan (1991)
Diploma Uczestnictwa, Poland (1993)
Runner Up, Tokyo ACCU Competition, Tokyo, Japan (1998, 2000)
Honorable Mention Award, 13th National Art Exhibition, Bangladesh (1998)
Gold Medal, 15th National Art Exhibition, Bangladesh (2002)
S M Sultan Padak, Bangladesh (2008)
UNESCO and Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, Umbria, Italy (2008)
Lifetime Achievement Award, BYPAC, Bangladesh (2029)
