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The cognoscenti in the country has been bestowed home is where with a new axis to converge upon. It takes the fine form of a heritage house with antique contents that history alone can generate. On display is a timeless affair between objets d’art and their paramours that climaxed in February when the Tagore family collection, covering an extensive journey of Indian the art is art, was thrown open to the public. Meticulously The most exhaustive and profound trajectory of Indian art assembled in the early 20th century, under the rarefied sensibilities of the Tagores, it focuses on just found a new address at Kasturbhai Lalbhai Museum in the Deccan, Pahari, Rajasthani, Mughal and Persian Ahmedabad, says Shashi Priya schools, Tibetan thangkas, Company School por- traits, monochromatic Cubist paintings of Gaganen- dranath and Nandalal Bose, and other well-known 2 1. The main painters of the Bengal School. The collection greets building of you at Kasturbhai Lalbhai Museum, Ahmedabad’s the museum new cultural address, which has been crafted from is a Colonial- era structure the desires of the eponymous business family to with a porch propagate a page from the annals of history to art constructed in 1905, lovers and laity alike. While the illustrious Tagore and the one Collection remains the showstopper here, a string of adjacent to it other famous artworks attracts as much attention. was designed by architect Claude In the early 1940s, when the Tagore family of Bengal Batley in the 1930s put up its unique collection of art on sale, Kasturb- hai Lalbhai brought it home. “Dadaji was not a col- 2. A series lector, but he was prescient enough to understand of artworks from the Ben- the significance of the collection and didn’t want gal School it to get scattered,” says Jayshree Lalbhai of her

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Pramod Kumar KG, working on archiving the collection at Kasturbhai Lalbhai Museum, points out its specialities 1. Minia- tures and The treasures on display at the paintings museum include the Khamsa with differ- of Nizami, a manuscript of ent influ- the khamsa (five poems) of ences form Nizami Ganjavi, a12th-century a large part Persian poet. Royal seals and of the col- handwritten notations allow us lection a rare glimpse of the previous 2. The owners of the exhibits, who assort- include the ruler of Bijapur, ment also Mohammad Adil Shah (1627-56) includes art and Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. in stone, Other significant highlights metal and include Mughal, Deccani, Rajput wood and Pahari miniature paintings. husband Sanjay’s grandfather, who co-founded through it. The adjacent building, designed by The museum also houses a remarkable collection of works the textile major Arvind Limited. All these illustrious British architect Claude Batley in the displaying the development of years, the collection was rarely seen outside of 1930s, hosts exhibitions from across the globe. the Bengal school of painting. the immediate family. After Kasturbhai’s death, “To begin with, it will display my personal col- Masterpieces by the great as the clan prospered beyond the walls of the lection. We intend to keep hosting contempo- masters of Indian painting and their students who created grand ancestral house, it decided to transform rary art collections too,” says Sanjay Lalbhai. modern Indian art are on display. the colonial mansion into a family museum, Like his grandfather, some of the finest works While curating this museum, I a concept fairly rare in India. Architect and of modern art have caught Sanjay’s discerning realised that the history of Indian conservationist Rahul Mehrotra was brought eye and in the building you see Syed Haider connoisseurship is yet to be examined in sufficient detail. The in from Mumbai to give a makeover to the Raza rubbing shoulders with Subodh Gupta, collecting passions of a patron 112-year-old property, and Pramod Kumar and Anjolie Ela Menons keeping company with of the arts had allowed for a KG of Eka Archiving Services was roped in to Amrita Shergils. sterling group of art objects to catalogue the collection. Jayshree joined in as remain in India. the curator. A unique attraction of the premises is a The core of the paintings is submerged museum, which will soon be ready from the legendary Tagore The refurbished colonial-era building, once to showcase the history of the Lalbhai family Collection that was broken up home to the families of brothers Chimanbhai, across 17 generations. An amphitheatre will of- and sold in the early 1940s, when Kasturbhai Lalbhai decided Kasturbhai and Narottambhai, is now a public fer space for discourses and performances. In to acquire it. At the Kasturbhai space with heirlooms animating it. “We didn’t the final reckoning, the family intends to make Lalbhai Museum, the collection want to change anything in the house, to give the museum a much-needed and much-talked- is now in the public domain. visitors the feel of seeing art inside a home,” about cultural hub in Ahmedabad. says Jayshree. It is to Mehrotra’s credit that 2 the original character of the two buildings, And while there’s no meandering away from across which the museum is spread, has the spirit of philanthropy espoused by the been left intact. The halls, bathroom, library progenitors in the family, the place intends to and master drawing room retain their original magnify the visitor’s experience by keeping look and have on display an eclectic range of the crowd to a minimum: only 20 guests get to 2,000 years of Indian art. The assortment also visit in a day. The Lalbhais are clear that they includes art in stone, metal and wood. Chola do not want this sanctum commercialised. bronzes from the 9th century and a Gandhara “No commercial venture or sale of art will take head compliment the colonial-era furniture in place here. A public space loses its signifi- the living room. However, the highlight is the cance when money gets involved. We just want Khamsa of Nizami, a Persian-style notebook to share art,” says Sanjay. Kasturbhai’s legacy that eternalises in its pages - in fine calligraphy seems to be in safe hands. - the couplets of Nizami Ganjavi, a 12th-century Persian poet. The manuscript is preserved in The author is a senior journalist and travel writer a glass case, but an iPad allows visitors to leaf and the views expressed in the article are her own

64 I Shubh Yatra I april 2017 shubh-yatra.in