While art objects sold at record breaking prices often make headlines, how often do we hear about those who collect them or any art collector regardless of where he/she buys from? Art collectors in India – unlike in the West where public or private art institutions don’t hesitate to acknowledge their contribution – remain uncelebrated and anonymous. So considering that, “A Passionate Eye”, an exhibition culled out from a massive donation C. L. Bharany made to the National Museum in 1976 in memory of his father Radha Krishan Bharany, is a significant development. Making it all the more crucial is the fact that it is for the first time in the 65 years since its inception that the premier museum is hosting an exhibition showcasing a collection donated by an individual.
“I am secretly hoping that many other collectors will look at it and think ‘why can’t I have an exhibition of my collection at the National Museum’. I want to have more Bharanys in the world. Public institutions here are seen as state organisations. We wanted to highlight the role of private donators and encourage more public participation. I also want to have more Bharanys in the world,” quips Giles Tillotson, who has curated the exhibition along with Mrinalini Venkateswaran and Pramod Kumar.
Formerly a Reader in History of Art at SOAS, University of London, Giles has been living in India for a decade.
The trio have carefully selected around 100 works from the 1,000 object strong collection which C. L. Bharany and his father collected from across India.
On view in a beautifully laid out exhibition is an assortment of sculptures in stone, bronze and wood, paintings on paper and cloth, manuscripts and textiles. Intricately carved wooden panels from Kerala, Pahari, Boondi and Bundelkhandi miniatures, Kashmiri shawls, phulkaris of Punjab and kanthas are displayed invitingly.
“R. K. Bharany had runners who would go from village to village and get impoverished royalty to part with their valuables for money. There is an account book which he maintained in a Punjabi dialect that had records of paintings being bought at Rs. 1 and Rs.2,” says Giles
On one hand, he collects a high end Kashmiri shawl and on the other R. K. Bharany was also captivated by the simplicity of a phulkari, the local women of Punjab would embroider in villages for their daily use.
Inspired by phulkari’s use at times like a canopy, the curators have got one framed overhead on the ceiling of a doorway like temporary structure erected in between two sections.
On the floor is the recreation of the same phulkari in vinyl. “Punjab and Kashmir may not be miles apart spatially but these works are worlds apart socially,” adds Giles.
Explaining the presence of several sculptures from South India, Giles say that R. K. Bharany met Mahadevan Natesan of the famous Natesan’s Antiqarts.
“They started trading with each other and that’s how he got so many wooden panels.”
Clever juxtapositioning is another highlight of the exhibition. Through the glass case, which display two South Indian bronzes of Devi and Bhakt, is seen a Kashmiri shawl draped on a mound like structure.
Connoisseur's delight
Radha Krishna Bharany (1877-1942) was a man of modest means and education but with a passion for arts. Son of a carpet manufacturer in Amritsar, he developed his expertise while amassing large collections of embroidered textiles and miniature paintings. Some of these were sold on to leading scholars of his day, including A.K. Coomaraswamy, Karl Khandalavala and Rai Krishnadas, who collected personally as well as on behalf of major museums in India and abroad.
Chhote Lal Bharany (C.L.Bharany) (b. 1926) inherited his father’s collection and his vocation, operating initially from Kolkata – where he had moved to study under the great Indologist Stella Kramrisch – and later from New Delhi. His clients included connoisseurs and administrators such as M.S. Randhawa and he has collaborated with successive Directors of the National Museum including Dr Grace Morley, C. Sivaramamurti and Laxmi Sihare.
C.L. Bharany — “I am personally strongly of the opinion that it is not possible to really appreciate Indian art without an Indian mythological background; because without it you see only the body, a dead body, a good body or a decorative body. The soul of the body can be seen in Indian art because the word Radha means such a lot to us, while ‘lady’ means something different.”
(“A Passionate Eye” is on at the National Museum till August 14)
