Kolkata :
Most of us who have only heard of priceless masterpieces like ‘Bharat Mata’, ‘Aurangzeb At Prayer’, ‘The Passing of Shah Jahan’ or the Krishna series by none less than Abanindranath Tagore will now get a chance to see them in original. These invaluable paintings, which have the culture ministry’s tag of “national treasure” — meaning that the originals can never be taken outside the country — will be on public display for the first time at the Victoria Memorial in July. And not just a couple of them, there will be nearly 150 paintings by Abanindranath on display, to showcase his entire career of 50 years.
This is not all. Paintings by Jyotirindranath Tagore, another famous Tagore scion, better known as Rabindranath Tagore’s Jyoti dada, will also be displayed in a following exhibition in August. The July exhibition will also see some of the best works of another Bengal master, Nandalal Bose. This treasure trove is part of a booty that has been loaned out to Victoria Memorial for life by the Rabindra Bharati Society, a trust that operates out of the Jorasanko Thakurbari. A large number of memorabilia from the Tagore household had been bequeathed to the Society. However, it was not in a position to preserve such priceless paintings and decided to hand them over in 2011.
A whopping 540 paintings each of Abanindranath and Gaganendranath Tagore and 350 paintings of Jyotirindranath were loaned to Victoria Memorial along with 23 by Nandalal Bose. The Memorial authority has decided to hold continuous exhibitions of these Bengal masters so that all the paintings can be displayed in a staggered manner and people get a chance to witness these paintings.
These paintings were locked away in trunks for many years and many have sustained damages. Hence, a massive restoration project is on at the moment to heal the paintings. “Some damage-preventive treatment had been done on the paintings in the past but that was not enough, so we have started an elaborate curative treatment. Moisture content during storage and fungus can be lethal for these masterpieces,” explained Shakeel Ahmed, administrative officer of Victoria Memorial. “Since these paintings have never been put up for public display, we are cataloguing them and the catalogues for each painter will be available during respective exhibitions,” Ahmed added. He informed that in return for the life-long loan of these prize possessions, the Memorial has agreed to pay Rs 10 lakh annually.
The paintings for all the exhibitions in the series, titled, Bengal Masters, have been curated by Ratan Parimu, one of the country’s most renowned art historians and former head of the art department of Baroda’s MS University. “I have researched extensively on Aban Tagore and the experiments that he had carried on life-long to bring about a synthesis of the Western influences that he had been trained in and indigenous styles of the Mughal and Rajasthani miniatures and Kangra paintings,” Parimu said.
Painter Jogen Chowdhury, too, sounded happy. A contemporary Bengal master originally from Santiniketan, he felt emotionally connected to these creations.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey, TNN / June 14th, 2014