NGMA was established with the objective of
promoting modern art in the country. It aimed to
acquire and preserve works of art from 1857
onwards. The art collection of the NGMA is vast
and eclectic. The 17,000 works within it testify
to a rich and resplendent past even as they pay
tribute to the present. Its treasures span
miniature paintings to modernist interventions
and au courant contemporary expressions.
The NGMA’s accent was always on acquisition of
paintings, sculptures, graphics and later
photographs. Putting together a qualitatively
superior collection became a goal of critical
importance. That NGMA should become a repository
of works that tracked the transformation of
pictorial language was always kept in view. The
task became particularly significant because of
the distinctive character of modern Indian art.
Much care was lavished in the building up of a
modern and contemporary collection. Not only was
attention paid in acquiring the old masters like
Raja Ravi Varma, Abanindranath Tagore, as well
as modernists like Amrita Sher-Gil and
Rabindranath Tagore, et al, but also the focus
on important contemporary art was a prime
concern. Thus the NGMA purchased M F Husain’s
landmark 1955 work Zameen where the artist’s use
of icons and symbols were articulated in a
monumental sweep. Similarly, Husain’s Farmer’s
Family, where ordinary people were endowed with
tremendous dignity and iconic quality, became a
valuable addition to the collection. Another
landmark painting, Tyeb Mehta’s Santiniketan
Triptych, where the brilliant fields of colour
hold together an array of convulsed figures,
entered the NGMA collection in the 90s. The
whole collection process not only looked at art
practices in different art centres like Mumbai,
Kolkata, Chennai, Baroda and Santiniketan but
also took note of the important art activity in
Delhi Thus NGMA acquired Bhabesh Sanyal, Sailoz
Mukherjee, Ram Kumar, Krishen Khanna, J
Swaminathan, Manjit Bawa, Anjolie Ela Menon,
Paramjit Singh, Arpita Singh among others.
Some objects of minor arts came to NGMA gratis
from the Government toshakhana (treasury), only
because they were made after 1857. These were
the regalia – ceremonial chairs, silver salvers,
richly embroidered velvet drapes, various silver
objects – made for the 1911 Delhi Durbar and
other vice-regal Durbars.
Works of art for the NGMA were obtained through
purchase, permanent loans and gifts. One of the
most generous and most valuable gifts was a
large body of bold, vibrant, painterly works by
Amrita Sher-Gil. It came from her father Sardar
Umrao Singh and her brother-in-law KCK Sundaram.
Sher-Gil’s husband Dr Victor Egan, however, sold
some 44 paintings to NGMA. Together, the Amrita
Sher-Gil corpus became one of the treasures of
NGMA. The paintings came to NGMA between 1949 to
1950.
The perpetual loan to NGMA by the trustees of
Rasaja Foundation of its collection of 1273
works was a significant addition to the gallery
a few years back. The collection had been put
together by the late artist and art historian
Jaya Appasamy and included a large number of
works of art done by indigenous artists during
the 19th and early 20th Centuries. This addition
has enhanced considerably the gallery’s
collection of early period of modern Indian art
when the interface between Britain and India
accelerated the process of change in the
traditional styles of expression.
The NGMA had also acquired from various sources
by way of purchases and gifts works of various
European and Far Eastern artists. There are in
the collection many works by European artists
who visited India in the 18th and 19th Centuries
and portraits and exotic Indian scenes. Among
them Tilly Kettle, William Hodges, Thomas
Daniell, Emily Eden and many others deserve
special notice. |
