Rafiqun Nabi | |
---|---|
রফিকুন নবী | |
Nabi in 2011 | |
Born | Chapai Nawabganj, Bengal Presidency, British India | 28 November 1943
Nationality | Bangladeshi |
Other names | Ranabi |
Alma mater | East Pakistan College of Arts and Crafts |
Occupation(s) | Artist, cartoonist |
Years active | 1964–present |
Signature | |
![]() |
Rafiqun Nabi (born 28 November 1943), better known as Ranabi, is a Bangladeshi artist and cartoonist. He is best known for creating Tokai , a character symbolizing the poor street boys of Dhaka who lives on picking things from dustbins or begging and having a knack of telling simple yet painful truths about current political and socio-economic situation of the country. [1] [2] He was awarded Ekushey Padak in 1993 by the government of Bangladesh. [3]
Nabi was born on 28 November 1943 to a Bengali Muslim family in Nawabganj District in India (now in northwest Bangladesh) in 1943. [4] He started drawing in his childhood. In the early 1950s, his father took him to a painting exhibition, held at the then Bardhaman House (now Bangla Academy). [1] He completed his bachelor's and master's from the East Pakistan College of Arts and Crafts (now Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka). [1] He studied under the supervision of artists like Zainul Abedin and Quamrul Hassan. He received a scholarship from the Asia Foundation between 1962 and 1964.[ citation needed ] During 1973–1976, he studied printmaking in Athens School of Fine Arts under the Greek Government's postgraduate scholarship. [1]
Nabi served as a faculty member of Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka during 1964–2010. [5] [4]
Nabi started out as a professional cartoonist in 1963. [6] His first contribution was to Weekly Purbodesh. Later in the mid 1960s, he became a regular in Shochitro Shandhani where he used to illustrate with cartoons the column Kaal Penchar Dairy by Abdul Gani Hazari. [6] In the late 1960s, he worked for the Weekly Express, an English periodical. During 1969, he got involved in a periodical named Forum, published by Rehman Sobhan and Hamida Hossain. [6]
Nabi returned from Greece in 1976. He began to contribute cartoons to the Weekly Bichitra and Dainik Bangla . He created the character Tokai , which first appeared in the anniversary issue of Bichitra in May 1977. [6]
Although more well-known as a book cover designer and cartoonist, Rafiqun Nabi is now a leading pictographist of the country, especially after his overseas training. He arranges his subjects somewhat in folk and somewhat in geometric styles.