India through the eyes of Western painters

Peep into the past

Bangalore chapter of the National Gallery of Modern Arts in association with British Council is hosting the exhibition of 93 collections from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The period of the works range from 1790 to 1927. The exhibition will be at Manekyavelu Mansion on Palace Road upto May 23.

William Simpson’s paintings  ‘Kylas - Ellora’ (1862) and ‘The Taj of Agra’ (1860s), William Carpenter’s ‘Interior of the Neminath Temple in Mount Abu’ (1851) and Tara Chund (a painter of Udaipur), John Lockwood Kipling’s ‘A wood carver of Simla’ (1870) are some of the collections that would displayed at the exhibition. The show has already been held in Delhi, Jodhpur, Kolkata and Hyderabad. The collection will be sent back to London after the event in Bangalore.

Guided tour

The gallery has organised guided tour of the exhibition, slide shows, gallery walks, workshop for adults and children as part of the exhibition. Well-known artists will conduct workshops, free of cost for the benefit of young artists. JMS Mani will conduct three-day workshop on study of landscapes for children from April 13.  P S Kumar will conduct a workshop on drawing Indian life. V G Venugopal will hold another workshop on basics of drawing. Pooja Gokul will conduct similar workshops on ‘exploring a monument’. These workshops are for children of the age group of 12 to 16 years. Mani Mekhala, Raja Raman and J Senthil Kumar will conduct workshops for adults.

Sobha Nambisan, director of NGMA, expects that number of visitors to the gallery will go up following the exhibition. “It is a rare occasion for art lovers of Bangalore. I wish they make better use of the opportunity. We are organising workshops in association with the British Council for the benefit of the young artists. These exercises motivate more and more people to visit the gallery,” she said. The director said the V&A Museum of London would bear the cost incurred on movement of art works in India.

The exhibition will be open from 10 am and 5 pm on all days except on Monday. Entry is through tickets priced at Re 1 per student, Rs 10 for Indians above 18 years and Rs 150 for foreigners. For details call - 22489220.

Saturday walks drawing crowds

The response from the public to the Saturday walks in the NGMA is gradually increasing.
The NGMA conducts walks to make the visitors understand art forms better on every Saturday. The gallery conducts two walks, one in the morning for 45 minutes and another in the evening for 75 minutes.

The Gallery has cancelled Saturday walks temporarily in view of the exhibition of art works from western artists, beginning on April 9. The walks will resume after the exhibition completes on May 23.