SM Sultan

Sheikh Mohammed Sultan (; 10 August 1923 – 10 October 1994), popularly known as S M Sultan, was a Bengali decolonial artist who worked in painting and drawing. His fame rests on his striking depictions of exaggeratedly muscular Bengali peasants engaged in the activities of their everyday lives.

For his achievement in fine arts he was awarded with the Ekushey Padak in 1982; the Bangladesh Charu Shilpi Sangsad Award in 1986; and the Independence Day Award in 1993.

There poet and art critic Hasan Shahid Suhrawardy restyled him S. M. Sultan and offered him accommodation in his home and the use of his library.

Sultan's official selection by the government in Karachi made it possible for him to visit the United States in the early 1950s, in Boston; at the International House of the University of Chicago; and at Michigan University, Ann Arbor. Later he traveled to England, where he participated in the annual open-air group exhibition at Victoria Embankment Gardens, Hampstead, London.

Sultan established the Kurigram Fine Arts Institute at Narail in 1969 and another art school, now named Charupeeth, in Jessore in 1973.

SM Sultan Gold Medal Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy introduced an award 'SM Sultan Gold Medal', named after SM Sultan. The award is given every year to a notable artist, during the festival marking the birth anniversary of SM Sultan. As of January 2020, the award recipients include Farida Zaman, Mustafa Monwar, Qayyum Chowdhury, Rafiqun Nabi, Ferdousi Priyabhashini, Hashem Khan, Abdul Mannan, Kalidas Karmakar, Hamiduzzaman Khan, Samarjit Roy Chowdhury and Murtaja Baseer.