The NGMA juggernaut moves to Bangalore

India's premier arts museum will debut in the south next week.

A month after UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi opened the annex wing of New Delhi’s National Gallery of Modern Art, the country’s ageing grande-dame and keeper of its art is turning prima donna. On February 18, tourism and culture minister Ambika Soni will inaugurate the Bangalore branch of the NGMA — an overdue fillip in a city known for its abundance of youth, pubs and IT companies but, alas, no signature art gallery worth the name.

At a time when interest in Indian art has soared, the south remained outside its ken with few galleries and certainly no art museum that could showcase the rich repertoire of Indian artists. Hopes of an NGMA or NGMA-like art institution were first expressed in the mid-eighties, but it was only in June 2001 that its foundation stone was laid. Even so, work on the project only commenced three years later, as funds from the Centre — apparently Rs 8 crore — were held up.

Housed in the century-old, colonial style Manikyavelu Mansion on Bangalore’s Palace Cross Road, this 3.5-acre estate had 1,500 sq m of built space to which a 1,260 sqm extension has been added. Together they will house two major galleries where part of the 17,000-odd artworks in the NGMA collection will find display space. “It is,” says director Rajeev Lochan, “an integrated complex that also includes an auditorium and a very nice cafeteria”. An open-air theatre, reference library, storage vaults and a museum shop are other components of the museum.

Restored and built by the Central Public Works Department, with Venkatramana Associates as project consultants, the museum will open with a blockbuster Signposts of the Times show of over 500 works ranging from the 18th century to the 21st century. To meet its deadline, work on the museum has picked up pace, and special lighting is being put into place while civil work is being rushed to completion. “I can now plan major travelling shows,” says Lochan, “that can be shown in Delhi, Bombay and Bangalore,” as well as, of course, internationally.

Last month, the extension wing of NGMA Delhi was inaugurated by Sonia Gandhi, herself a former conservation trainee at the institution, who said in her inaugural address that “Indian artists, throughout, whether the Company School or the Bombay Progressive Artists school or our contemporary masters, have demonstrated an extraordinary ability to respond to influences from around the world and yet remain deeply and firmly grounded in their national, regional and local cultural identity.”

The NGMA extension has increased the display space by as much as six times. Sonia Gandhi, who went around the Nandlal Bose retrospective and the comprehensive overview of Indian art show, later wrote in the visitor’s book that she hoped the facilities would “enable more and more people to appreciate the work of our great artists. For without an understanding of art and creativity, the human personality remains incomplete and the human spirit cannot achieve its fullest expression.”