Rafiqun Nabi (28 November 1943 – Present), widely known as Ranabi, is a Bangladeshi artist and cartoonist. An artist celebrated for his innumerable contribution to Bangladeshi Art, was loved by the mass for his famous cartoon character “Tokai”. Through his painting, he captured the painful truths of his country.
He was born in Nawabganj District in northwest Bangladesh in 1943. 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). 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). 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 at Athens School of Fine Arts under the Greek Government’s postgraduate scholarship.
Nabi served as a faculty member of the Faculty of Fine Arts, the University of Dhaka during 1964–2010.
Nabi started out as a professional cartoonist in 1963. 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. In the late 1960s, he worked for the Weekly Express, an English periodical. In 1969, he got involved in a periodical named Forum, published by Rehman Sobhan and Hamida Hossain.
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.
Rafiqun Nabi’s awards include the Promoters Prize, Inter Graphic-80, Berlin (1980), Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Award (1989), the Ekushey Padak (1993), Agrani Bank Award for Children’s Book Design (1995), and S M Sultan Padak (2002). He received the National Book Centre prize for Children’s Book Cover Design several times between 1968 and 90. He was the first Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka. Rafiqun Nabi lives and works in Dhaka.