Scramble for Air India's art

Air India's collection of art seems to have found a new home in New Delhi's National Gallery of Modern Art

While official word is still not out, there’s a sense of excitement in the air that the Air India collection of art — considered among the more important corporate collections in the country — scattered across its offices and lounges, is being brought to New Delhi’s National Gallery of Modern Art. At some point, it had been rumoured that the collection was up for grabs, but vigilant babus soon put a stop to that. The art, it was suggested, belonged to the nation, not just the airline, and needed to be celebrated even as the beleaguered airline was set to be privatised. Air India might not have sold, given its huge debt, but its art, at least, seems to have found a new home. Whether the recent renovations at Jaipur House are part of NGMA’s general upkeep or in preparation for the housing of the AI collection, this much at least is known, that art-lovers will soon be able to view some part of it in the capital before the winter is out.

And what a collection it is, priceless and consisting of some of the greatest artists the country has produced, among them V S Gaitonde and M F Husain, K H Ara and H A Gade, and a favourite of the airline, one of India’s first women artists — B Prabha and others such as Arpana Caur and Anjolie Ela Menon. Not only that, the collection consists of drawings and illustrations by Mario Miranda, catalogues, antiques, glass paintings, sculpture and rare textiles. The eclectic collection is not of an even quality, even so it has some truly astounding works, many of them from the early period of the Progressives.

New Delhi was not always the intended destination for these works. It had been suggested that the collection be housed in the Air India building itself at Mumbai’s Nariman Point, its iconic address till recently. But with the sale of the building, there was no more place for it to be housed, so an intra-government transfer was arranged. The discovery of a Jatin Das painting from the Air India collection that found its way illegally into the market also seems to have set a cat among the pigeons with no one taking responsibility for the safety and security of this asset.

Presumably, not everyone is happy with the outcome. The collection, after all, was built in Mumbai, the airline’s headquarters, and in many ways it is an ode to the artists of that city even though the collection is pan-Indian. Experts have requested that some, if not all, of the collection be housed in Mumbai. There are those who were part of committees when parts of the collection were purchased who have an emotional relationship with it. As of yet, the collection is still being inventoried. Though only part of it may be exhibited at NGMA, it will be up to the institution to decide what — if anything — it shares with its namesakes in Mumbai and Bengaluru.

There is definitely merit in the collection remaining in one place, but there are concerns that most of it will only end up being stored in the basement. For it to be viewed, loans to museums are a logical route to follow, and special exhibitions can be organised for non-art related objects. These can be arranged as part of larger art events in the country, or as per institutional requirements. Having established that the collection forms part of the nation’s wealth, it now remains to be seen how it will be shared. The whispered NGMA showing will be the first step in that direction.

Kishore Singh is a Delhi-based writer and art critic. These views are personal and do not reflect those of the organisation with which he is associated