Novera Ahmed
Novera Ahmed (29 March 1939 – 6 May 2015) was a modern sculptor of Bangladesh. She was awarded Ekushey Padak by the Government of Bangladesh in 1997. Artist Zainul Abedin described her work saying "What Novera is doing now will take us a long time to understand – she is that kind of an artist." Early life and education Ahmed was born on 29 March 1939, in Sundarbans in the then Bengal Presidency, British India. Her ancestral home was in Chittagong. She studied in Calcutta and Comilla. In 1955 she was awarded a diploma in Design in the Modeling and Sculpture course from Camberwell College of Arts in London. At Camberwell, she studied under the British sculptor Jacob Epstein and Karel Vogel of Czechoslovakia. In 1966, she met Danish artist Asger Jorn in Paris. She studied European sculpture under the sculptor Venturino Venturi in Florence and later in Vienna. She was influenced by many western modern sculptors such as Henry Moore. Career Ahmed jointly worked with Hamidur Rahman on the original design of the Shaheed Minar, Dhaka. During 1956–1960, she had done about 100 sculptures in Dhaka. Out of her 100 sculptures, 33 sculptures are currently in Bangladesh National Museum.