Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation Explained

Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation
Established:2011
Location:Fort, Mumbai
Collections:Modern art and contemporary art
Collection Size:800+ artworks and sculptures
Director:Puja Vaish
Website:http://jnaf.org/

The Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation (JNAF) is a private, not-for-profit organization located in Mumbai, India, with its core interest in promoting the preservation, exhibition, education, and research of post-colonial Indian modern art. The collection is endowed by the personal collection of the late Jehangir Nicholson, comprising over 800 pieces of art across mediums from artists including M. F. Husain, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, S. H. Raza, K. H. Ara. The foundation is currently housed in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), and functions as the modern and contemporary art wing of the museum.

History

Jehangir Nicholson (1915 ― 2001) was a chartered accountant and the last heir of a cotton gin and press, Breul and Co. (est.1863). Nicholson's introduction to the art world was in December 1968 when he purchased a landscape by Sharad Waykool, who was exhibiting in the Taj Art Gallery. This led Nicholson to become an active patron for two of the major galleries in Mumbai, Chemould and Pundole. Not only did he build a sizeable and museum-quality personal collection, but he also formed friendships with a number of artists, especially members from the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group. [1] [2]

As Nicholson's collection grew throughout the 1960s, he maintained the vision of sharing his pieces with the public by building a museum dedicated to contemporary art. In 1976, he loaned part of his collection to the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in order to establish the Jehangir Nicholson Museum of Modern Art, with the help of V. K. Narayana Menon, the chairman of NCPA, J. R. D. Tata, and Bal Chhabda.[3] This venture was one of the first public-facing museums of post-colonial art in Mumbai. Additionally, Nicholson organized two public exhibitions at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), in Mumbai, 1998 and in Delhi, 1999, where he displayed more than 250 works from his private collection. [4]

With the sheer number of works he collected, the space at the NGMA was simply not enough. Therefore, Nicholson furthered his quest to build a museum of contemporary art that could accommodate his growing collection by actively negotiating with the government for land to establish a free-standing museum - an effort he continued until his death in 2001 and included in his will. The Jehangir Nicholson Museum at NCPA closed down shortly after in the same year.[5] Nicholson's godson Cyrus Guzder and lawyer Kaiwan Kalyaniwalla established the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation based on his will, aiming to preserve, document, and update one of the richest private collections that reflects the complexities, vitality, and crucial phases of development in modern Indian art history. In 2008, the foundation entered a partnership with the CSMVS to set up the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery (opened in 2011) as the modern and contemporary art wing in the East Annexe of the museum. The foundation also houses its office, a library, and a research center, as well as a visible storage archive for the JNAF collection. The Jehangir Nicholson Gallery celebrated its 10th year of opening in 2021.[6]

Collection

The Jehangir Nicholson Collection has great historical interest and importance because it often covers a wide range of works chronologically for each of the artists, adding understanding to the dimension and scope of representations. It comprises over 800 works of modern and contemporary Indian art procured from 1968 to 2001 by Nicholson. The core strength of the collection lies in its comprehensiveness of the works by the Bombay Progressive Artists and their contemporaries, including S. H. Raza, K. H. Ara, V. S. Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta, M. F. Husain, Akbar Padamsee, Ram Kumar, Krishen Khanna, F. N. Souza, and Laxman Shreshtha.

The collection also includes a vast number of works from artists that are often associated with the Baroda Group, including K. G. Subramanyan, N. S. Bendre, Bhupen Khakhar, Jayant Parikh,[7] Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, Rekha Rodwittiya, Vivan Sundaram, and Nilima Sheikh. Other artists that are represented include Homi Patel, Ganesh Haloi, Prabhakar Kolte, Prabhakar Barwe, Jogen Chowdhury, Bikash Bhattacharjee, C. Douglas, Surendran Nair, Nalini Malani, and Arpana Caur.

Aside from two-dimensional pieces, the collection also contains works from sculptors such as Pilloo Pochkhanawala, Adi Davierwala, Sankho Chaudhuri, Ramesh Pateria, Nagji Patel, and B. Vithal.[8]

Exhibitions

Publications

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: A Gallery of Dreams - Indian Express. 2021-04-16. archive.indianexpress.com.
  2. Web site: Ghose. Anindita. 2011-04-08. Dreaming in watercolour. 2021-04-16. mint. en.
  3. Web site: Remembering Jehangir Nicholson . Saffronart . 2 November 2021.
  4. Web site: "Beginnings, how a private collection become open to public - Park II" . https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/s/instagram/CUE4_FrsM-M . 2021-12-26 . registration. Instagram . JNAFMumbai . 1 November 2021.
  5. Web site: "Beginnings, how a private collection become open to public" . https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/s/instagram/CT4IdpysdMS . 2021-12-26 . registration. Instagram . JNAFMumbai . 1 November 2021.
  6. Web site: Roy . Anuka . Mumbai's Jehangir Nicholson Gallery celebrates 10 years of being open at CSMVS . Mid-day . 1 November 2021.
  7. Web site: Jayant Parikh JNAF . jnaf.org.
  8. Web site: The Collection . Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation . jnaf.org . 29 October 2021.
  9. Web site: Borges . Jane . Souza from Saligao . Mid-Day . 1 November 2021.
  10. Web site: Kumar. Rinky. 2019-08-13. Mumbai: Jehangir Nicholson Gallery is set to present VS Gaitonde's works. 2021-04-21. Architectural Digest India. en-us.
  11. Web site: Johari. Aarefa. 2019-03-19. 'He was the Google of Mumbai': Foy Nissen's photos reveal his intimate relationship with the city. 2021-04-21. Scroll.in. en-US.
  12. Web site: Ayaz. Shaikh. 2018-12-17. Mumbai This museum's new exhibition brings alive 'still life' photographs. 2021-04-21. Architectural Digest India. en-us.
  13. News: 2017-03-19. India's masculinity and sensuality. en-GB. BBC News. 2021-04-21.
  14. Subramanian. Samanth. 2017-03-28. William Gedney's Travels in India. 2021-04-21. The New Yorker. en-us.

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