Arts_Illustrated_-_February-March_2016

DIGITAL COPY ON MAGZTER

Nothing that preceded presaged this: the

transformation of bureaucratic, staid, dull

Delhi into one of the most vibrant art

centres of the art universe and indeed the

art capital of the country. The art hotspot

that commands a major chunk of the Indian

contemporary art market estimated at

anything between 1000 and1200 crores after

having peaked at 2000 crores in 2007. The

odds were always stacked against Delhi : it

was Mumbai that had the money, the highest

tax payers base, the art institutions/museums,

the ‘cultured’ art audience, the significant

art community: that’s where the showing

and critiquing and selling , the making and

unmaking of art/art reputations happened.

Fifties Delhi was lacklustre, slumberous,

capital city: it boasted of a Parliament

building, the magnificent Rashtrapati Bhavan

(the erstwhile Viceregal residence), the

impressive North and South blocks, an India

Gate, a creaky museum or two but had no

significant art institution/art fraternity, really.

Nor did it have the buyers with the deep

pockets, significant critics or gallerists. There

were entrepreneurial refugees more involved

with putting fractured lives and businesses

together than with art.

All that changed dramatically towards the

close of the 1950s. An enlightened newly

constituted Congress government fired with

the zeal of instituting cultural ambassadors,

devising the emblemata, the showpieces of

a proud, resurgent nationalism went on a

building and commissioning spree. One

to two percent of all expenditure on new

government buildings was earmarked for

public art: sculptures, murals, paintings which

generated work for the likes of sculptors

Sankho Chaudhuri and Ramkinkar Baij,

painter/muralist/sculptor Satish Gujral, to

name a few. Baij devised the iconic Yaksha/

Yakshi sculptures for the newly built Reserve

Bank building, Gujral made the famous mural

at Rail Bhawan, Sankho Chaudhuri devised

the much-loved sculptures that dot the Mandi

House area in Central Delhi. The National

Museum, the NGMA, the stylish Joseph Stein

designed Triveni were the new art hubs.

The eminent Delhi-based septuagenarian

painter of landscapes Paramjit Singh recalls

those heady times fondly. ‘What happened

in the 50s/60s, laid the foundation for the

vibrant art centre that Delhi is today.’ He

soMewHeRe iN THe coURse of HisToRY aND THaT THiNG

calleD TiMe, THe PoweR caPiTal of THe coUNTRY BecaMe THe

iNDisPUTaBle aRT caPiTal, GiViNG THe MUcH-NeeDeD iMPeTUs To

THe Rise of coNTeMPoRaRY aRT iN iNDia

The Curious

Case of

New Delhi

By Sunil Mehra

Art Heritage

(^40) / arts illustrated / feb 2016 - mar 2016 /IAF - Delhi Connecting Art