Since the session of 2012-2013, the University of Jahangirnagar has started their graduation (honors) course in the fine art department in four years’ term duration. The curriculum of the fine art department at Jahangirnagar University has been prepared to maintain the relevancy with the processes of fine art education in other universities of Bangladesh. For many years, the universities of our country have been continuing the graduation and post graduation courses in fine art disciplines. So, from this point of view, the department of fine art at Jahangirnagar University is a very newer addition in institutional aesthetic studies of art.
The prime concern of preparing the curriculum of this department was the vast and diverse background of Bangladesh and of the world as well. Recalling our conspicuous ethical journey we have found the skillful expansion of wood crafting, pottery and ceramic art, pottery painting, architecture, etc in this land. This evidence is very eminent in various books of our Bengali literature, songs, manuscript painting of ancient and medieval ages. The paintings on potteries or the manuscript paintings from ‘Uari Botesswar’ which has been discovered in very recent times also carries the precise proof of these art forms in our land. It is merely discussed that we have a generous humanitarian history along with our eminent art, literature, and culture; the numerous stories of benevolent love and passion which reflects our solidarity with the human races all over the world. The historians influenced by the British colonization ignored this inherent cosmopolitan mentality of our very own. And thus our traditional literature and drama have been categorized simply as folklore which is also an indication of our colonial tendency for theorization. But these were supposed to be considered as our unique ethnical art forms, not just as the practices of rural subalterns.
Nowadays we are noticing a remarkable enthusiasm in our traditional drama, literature, music and our visual arts among the Bengali people. It is needless to say that to appreciate art in our local context we should have deep and sincere studies on these fields. Between the history of almost a thousand years, we have found that the Bengali writers have introduced the forms of the painting of our locality through their literary works in various ways. Along with such mythological histories, we also find the precious studies of narrative paintings in the designed quilt named Nakshikantha, in many archeological signs, Buddhist temples, and in the integrated terracotta slabs in many of our locality’s ancient architectural facades. In many pieces of evidence of traditional literature the proofs of Bengali people’s art potentials are established in written or verbal forms; from which a complete history of our art studies can be written.
The aim of the fine art department is such as if the students can be the strong successors of cosmopolitan art ideas from all over the globe being educated with the eminent history of our dynamic journey. The curriculum consists of the elements which can be the impetus for the students for having unique thoughts of our very own beyond the so-called colonial perceptions we are conveying in our minds for decades. With the simultaneous study of our ethnicity, the cultural history of thousand years and the history of the world heritage and art the students can adopt the sense of sincere assessment on local art and the practices of international art societies as well.
That is why there is a sincere effort on creating an appropriate curriculum comparing with the curriculums of the fine arts disciplines of prominent universities of our country and abroad. Now the department is continuing its graduate courses in two disciplines- Painting and Craft. But we have planned to start gradually with the other prominent disciplines like Sculpture, Graphic design, Fashion design, Ceramics, Printmaking and History of Art in the very near future. To transform the department into an established Faculty with a strong and diverse educational purpose these disciplines should be included in the curriculum along with all the facilities and support. Preparing the classrooms with the necessary equipment and technical arrangements, equipping a seminar room with a good number of books and research materials, creating a standard gallery space and museum structure as well the department of fine art is proceeding to its dream of making the premises as a dynamic ground of art education. Having all the supports the students can make themselves skilled enough in practical works at the same time they have had the chances to adopt a concrete sense of art understanding. Seminars, symposiums and art festivals will be held in a regular basis to merge our journey with the contemporary international art scenarios with the firm base of our ethical context. All in a way, there will be all the essential arrangements in our future Faculty where not only the fine art students will be facilitated but the premises will be an open ground for promising art practitioners from our country and abroad.
To materialize all these aims the department of the fine art of the University of Jahangirnagar are preparing the curriculum. Our expectation is to get such artists and art scholars from the department who will have strong knowledge on literature, archeology, drama, history, and music which will provide a firm basis to their conceptions of art. We are on our way to create the circumstance.