Art in the house

58 paintings along the ground floor corridor of Parliament House have been restored for the first time. Sohini Chattopadhyay takes a guided tour

It is difficult to imagine Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar’s face creased with concern. When our elected lawmakers bang their desks in the manner of rambunctious schoolchildren, she gazes at them with what looks like dreamy fondness. When our parliamentarians provide us with a quality of entertainment unmatched by anything else on television, Kumar’s glasses remain securely perched on her nose and a half smile plays on her lips. Nothing, it seems, can furrow this Honourable brow.

But whether or not the creases showed, Kumar was deeply concerned when she saw the state the Parliament House complex was in when she assumed office in June 2009. Wires hung loose, paint flaked from the portraits in the Great Hall, cracks flared on the murals of the outer circular corridor on the ground floor. The “temple of democracy”, as Nehru described it, was in a shambles. And Kumar, a painter and poet herself, was not amused.

The first step she took after being appointed Speaker was to set up a Heritage Committee for the preservation and maintenance of the Parliament House complex, which comprises Parliament House (PH), the Parliament Library Building (PLB) and Parliament House Annexe (PHA). “Not even a nail can be fixed here without the permission of the Heritage Committee,” says Kumar, her tone firm but her smile intact.

Wall art
A priority was the restoration of the 58 murals along the all-important ground floor corridor, onto which open the offices of the Prime Minister and Finance Minister, and the Speaker’s chamber, among others. Cracks had appeared on some murals, and paint had weathered and faded.

Originally conceived by the first Speaker of the House, G V Mavalankar, these murals are in a way documents of our history. Simple and elegant, they depict scenes from the epics and well-known chapters of Indian history from the Indus valley civilisation to Independence. They offer us an idea of what constitutes ‘public art’ in the eyes of our government. And clearly, this is the art of a newly independent nation celebrating the uncontroversial glories of its past. There is Ashoka sending his Buddhist missions out to the world; Akbar with Tansen, Todar Mal and Abul Fazl in a court scene; the Quit India Resolution being passed.

In 1951, a committee of lawmakers, scholars and historians, chaired by Mavalankar, was formed to plan the decoration of the ground floor of Parliament House. The original idea was to commission 125 murals and 46 motifs at a total cost of Rs 3 lakh, but this was later revised to the present 59 murals. (The 59th, depicting Nehru’s “tryst with destiny” speech, is displayed in the basement of the Parliament House Annexe.)

In 1954, an artist’s sub-committee was formed, comprising historians, archaeologists, chemists with a specialisation in archaeology, and artists. Each mural, this panel decided, would be painted in three stages: a colour sketch followed by a pencil cartoon and then the final painting on masonite, a type of hardboard which forms the support base for the paintings. Artists were selected and designated for each zone, and the work for each zone was monitored by an artist-supervisor.

Repair work
Nearly 50 years after the murals were completed, a team of trained conservators from the National Museum was commissioned to restore them. It arrived in September 2009, a few months after Kumar assumed office. The project was headed by I K Bhatnagar, former dean of the National Museum Institute, who has previously carried out restoration work at the Rashtrapati Bhavan as well.

The damage the team set out to repair was largely caused by vandalism. The word conjurs up a violent image, but in fact it refers to the regular wear and tear associated with human activity. The murals had suffered splotches of paint from the periodic distempering of nearby wall surfaces, scratches from accidental brushing against the walls, and grazing from contact. Natural factors were also at play: daily and seasonal temperature variations had caused pigment loss.

Underpinning the restoration work was the principle of minimum intervention. In other words, the restorers used materials and methods that matched as closely as possible the original artists’ work. (One intervention they did make was to draw outlines to improve the appearance of the murals, making them look sharper.) In cases where loss of pigment was extensive, they used colour integration to match the original. Finally, they added a preservative coating to protect the works from dust and other damage. For this, the team used a solvent that evaporated on its own, leaving behind a thin, transparent film.

Mission accomplished
It was hard work, all of this, and took several months to accomplish. But project leader Bhatnagar feels the satisfaction of job well done. “The paintings have been restored to their former glory,” he says, beaming.

The satisfaction is well earned. The new shine in the murals has been noticed and appreciated. Jay Panda, a Lok Sabha MP from the Biju Janata Dal, told Business Standard that “The Parliament building complex is an enormously important heritage structure that has seen better days and has a mediocre standard of housekeeping. It contains murals by renowned artists that would cost a fortune in the open market, but which are treated little better than graffiti at a bus station. The ongoing renovation is long overdue and very gratifying to see.”

D Raja, a Rajya Sabha MP from the CPI, says, “The initiative is much appreciated as these murals offer a glimpse of our rich culture and heritage.”

New murals, however, have not been commissioned, as perhaps they should have been. “It becomes very political,” explains Rakhee Bakshee, media advisor to the Speaker. “Every choice has the potential to blow up into a full-fledged controversy.”

More to do
Next on the agenda is the restoration of the 24 gilt-framed portraits of national leaders in the Central Hall. Once again, a team from the National Museum has been entrusted with the job, but the work is yet to begin and details are hard to come by.

A whole lot of non-art renovation work, from relaying sewage pipes to revamping the menu at the Parliament House canteen, is underway. Among the changes is the first washroom in Parliament House exclusively for women, the absence of which was keenly felt.

Setting the House in order is not a small task. But Meira Kumar seems to be enjoying it. “Preserving the beauty and aesthetics and heritage of our Parliament is something very close to my heart,” she says. This Speaker of the House, evidently, also sees herself as its Keeper.