Shyamhari Chakra
NEW DELHI: The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) – one of the world’s largest museums of its kind here in the national capital – has come up with several innovative initiatives to attract and involve more visitors.
Commencing today, its sprawling green lawns and aesthetically designed gallery spaces would be thrown open for public viewing free of cost for two hours – 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm – on every Saturday and Sunday.
“NGMA is enlivening people’s museum experience by opening up its lawns and gallery spaces to the public every Saturday and Sunday starting on Saturday,” Director General Adwaita Gadanayak stated.
NGMA will showcase a wide range of activities including specially curated shows, art and photography sessions, film screenings, poetry, music, dance, and theatre performances, workshops and afternoon get-togethers with eminent artists, poets and writers, he elaborated.
The inaugural session on Saturday will feature eminent painter Jatin Das as the guest of honour who will also inaugurate the Sketching Club, he informed.
The year 2021 is expected to be a special year in the annals of NGMA, Gadanayak hoped.
“Curatorial activities are in full swing for the exhibitions that will be launched early this year. On the cards is a Nandalal Bose retrospective, the showcasing of the exceptional Air India Collection and the treasures of modern Indian art, the retrospective of Ramkinkar Baij and Amrita Shergil, and an exhibition of Tantra Art”, he shared.
The exhibitions will be held in Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai.
Kolkata will also be the venue for a group show of about a hundred young artists.
The Red Fort will be the site of a unique art residency that will see the co-creation of artistic expressions by traditional and contemporary artists.
The Red Fort experience will be replicated in Srinagar city where another immersive workshop and exhibition has been planned.
The DG further informed that visual documentation of the living art legends, publication of Art Journal, creation of a vibrant online platform, an art cafe, a reimagining of all the physical spaces, creation of a world class museum shop, a state-of-the-art Sound and Light show are also in different stages of planning and Implementation.
The premier art institution of the Nation under the Ministry of Culture, NGMA was established in 1954 at Jaipur House near the India Gate.
With subsequent branches at Mumbai and Bengaluru, its collection has been more than 1700 works by above 2000 artists that include Thomas Daniell, Raja Ravi Verma, Abanindranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Jamini Roy, Amrita Sher-Gil apart from several from foreign countries.
