Novera Ahmed was a pioneer of modern sculpture whose illustrious career began in Dhaka in the late 1950s. Born on 29 March 1930, in Calcutta (now Kolkata) of the then Bengal Presidency, British India. She left Dhaka in 1951 after she was awarded a diploma in design in the modelling and sculpture course from Camberwell College of Arts in London. At Camberwell, she studied sculpture under the tutelage of eminent Czech sculptor Karel Vogel. During her study in London, she met Sir Jacob Epstein and had the opportunity to receive hands-on knowledge on European sculpture. She received further training in sculpture under Italian sculptor Venturi Venturino in Florence. Novera’s contribution to art has long been a subject of neglect. It was through the intervention of a number of researchers that she finally received her due recognition for her pioneering works. She introduced modern sculpture into what was then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. She produced one of the very first murals on the frieze at the Central Public Library in 1957 and the first open-air sculpture (Cow with Two Figures) in 1958. She had her first solo exhibition entitled “Inner Gaze” in Dhaka in August 1960, which showcased about 75 works from her most fertile years – 1956 to 1960 – mainly executed in cement. She produced about 100 sculptures in Dhaka, of which 34 are currently in the Bangladesh National Museum collection. Novera’s second major exhibition was held in Lahore in 1961. She left the region for France and made Paris her permanent home in 1970. A major solo exhibition was also held in Paris in July 1973. The Bangladesh National Museum held a retrospective show with their collection in 2015. She was awarded Ekushey Padak in 1997 in absentia. She died on May 6, 2015 at a hospital in Paris.