Metaphysical nostalgia: 3 20th-century art events in Mumbai
Artworks by Souza, Husain and Gaitonde come out of hiding, plus gallery Pundole's multi-crore debut art auction and a new collection at the city's main museum -- April is meant for gorging on modern art in Mumbai.
For the first time, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is putting its art collection on display to the public.
The occasion is causing some excitement because it will be the first time rarely-seen works of modern Indian art will leave the TIFR premises. Of particular note are works by the Bombay Progressive Artist’s Group, which include prized painters like F.N. Souza, K.H. Ara, M.F. Husain, Tyeb Mehta, S.H. Raza and their contemporaries.
The exhibition will be held at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Mumbai from April 24 to June 5.
Homi J Bhabha's metaphysical world
You might wonder how a science institute came to acquire a 200-strong collection of exemplary modern art. In such cases, the answer usually lies in a genius whose intellectual sphere is broad enough to spearhead a scientific program that would launch India as a nuclear power, and, simultaneously, nurture a breakaway art movement in the making.
Since he could not increase the content of life by increasing its duration, intensifying life became important to him.
“Art, music poetry … have this one purpose, increasing the intensity of my consciousness and life,” Bhabha said.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Bhabha acquired works of modern art, especially those of the Bombay Progressive Artists’s Group and their contemporaries who were just starting their careers, and were not the household names they are today.
Only a handful of collectors took notice of their art at the time, but Bhabha was an empathic one. He assisted the artists financially, helped them with studio spaces and bought their works.
If he encouraged and inspired the young artists of his times, Bhabha was equally eager to share his appreciation and knowledge of art with the members of the institutions that he built. TIFR would emerge as a repository of one of the finest public collections of Modern Indian art.
Perched at the southern tip of Mumbai island, the TIFR in Colaba operates under the aegis of the Atomic Energy program of India and conducts basic research in physics, chemistry, biology and computer sciences. The foyer of its auditorium houses seminal works from the collection. But the few on display here belie the large numbers of artworks that have lain in storage for decades.
Now cleaned, restored and reframed, many fans are justifiably thrilled at the prospect of the new exhibition.
The way we were
Art advisors and authors Mortimer Chatterjee and Tara Lal have extensively researched the TIFR collection for a book, “The TIFR Art Collection” published by MARG.
After Bhabha’s death in the Air India crash over Mont Blanc in 1966, TIFR's second director M. G. K. Menon continued the acquisition of works including those of Ara, Gaitonde, Mehta and K.K. Hebbar resulting in a collection that traces the career of some of these artists over a period of 20 years.
There are artists, such as B. Sadwelkar, Badri Narayan and Homi Patel, who Chatterjee feels will receive greater acknowledgement for their contribution to this era of Indian art, than they have received up to now.
The M.F. Husain mural commission in the TIFR foyer is another key piece. A life-size printout on flex of the 25 foot mural will be exhibited at the NGMA.
Even the frames are of historical importance. Most still carry the slender original brass plaques with the artist's name. Damaged ones were restored at Mumbai’s Chemould Frames where the paintings were originally fitted; these new frames remain true to the artist’s original selection.
Kekoo Gandhy, founder of Gallery Chemould, recalls how Homi Bhabha would usually come to the Chemould framing shop post lunch.
“He would get so absorbed in talking about the painting, that the poor shop assistant would be left holding the painting up for ages,” chuckled the 91-year-old Gandhy, a living art institution himself.
Summer's Modern Indian Art overdose
Even as one institutional collection is enjoyed for the first time by the public, another collection of modern art of the same period is dispersing into private collections via an art auction.
Mumbai’s Pundole's art gallery is conducting the auction on April 20 at the NCPA. It is the august gallery's debut as an auction house.
Collectors hope the setting-up of Pundole's auction arm will make for exciting secondary sales.
A final public viewing of this collection will be held at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre foyer for three days prior to the auction. View the auction catalogue, here.
And as if there wasn’t enough to take in, there’s one more high-profile Mumbai art event in April.
After many years wait, the Jehangir Nicholson Collection opened this month at the Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sanghralaya (CSMVS) museum. Bombay Artists from the Jehangir Nicholson Collection is the first show of modern art at a museum filled with the ancient and medieval.
Go. Knock yourself out.
The TIFR exhibition runs April 24 to June 5 at the NGMA, Regal Circle, Fort; +91 (0)22 2352426; www.tifr.res.in
Jamshed Bhabha pre-auction viewing runs April 16-20, 11-7 p.m. Sunday closed. April 20 till 2:30 p.m. At the Jamshed Bhabha theater entrance foyer, NCPA, Nariman Point; +91 (0)22 2283 3737
The Bombay Artists from the Jehangir Nicholson Collection till August 28, 10.30 a.m.-6 p.m. At the CSMVS, 159/61 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Fort; +91 (0)22 22844484; www.themuseummumbai.com
