Air India art exhibition 'Maharaja's Treasure' on display in Mumbai

Maharaja’s treasure is on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Mumbai.

The art exhibition titled ‘Maharaja’s Treasure: Select Works of Art from the Famed Air India Collection’ - has been curated to focus on the works that Air India used to redefine the air travel experience and showcase paintings and sculptures by eminent artists like VS Gaitonde, GR Santosh, KH Ara, B Prabha, Pilloo Pochkhanwala, MF Husain and Raghav Kaneria et al.

Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Meenakshi Lekhi inaugurated the exhibition on Tuesday evening.

The in-house curated exhibition of NGMA consists of a thematic display of around 200 artworks. It will continue till 13 August.

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"It’s truly a Maharaja’s collection as 80 years of the Air India story gets to be depicted through paintings and art pieces. We are grateful to Air India for providing patronage to artists when they were looking for it. Artists always require patronage to look after themselves. Artists have an element of God in themselves because they are always competing with themselves to do better and better and upskill themselves,” Lekhi said inaugurating the exhibition.

Speaking about the exhibition, the minister said that an 80 years story of India needs to be told multiple times at multiple places.

NGMA Mumbai Director, Nazneen Banu said, consequent to the Government’s decision to disinvest its stake in Air India, it was decided to handover the Air India collection of arts and artefacts to the Ministry of Culture which is to be housed at the National Gallery of Modern Art for posterity.

“The impressive diversity and broad spectrum of Air India collection today makes it unique which holds an unparalleled position in the history of any commercial airline,” she said.

Lekhi also ceremonially released the exhibition catalogue of 'Maharaja's Treasure - Select Works of Art from the Famed Air India Collection' on the occasion.

The evening was dotted with the presence of artists and art connoisseurs from the world over. Among the artists present include Dr. Saryu Doshi, Pheroza Godrej, Brinda Miller, Nayanaa Kanodia, Vipta Kapadia, Nandita Desai, Paramesh Paul, Vishwa Sahni, Sonu Gupta, theatre personality Raell Padamsee among others. The evening also saw stunning Kathak and Lavani performances, specially curated for the exhibition.

From its very inception, Air India always collected and promoted art from various artistic traditions of India. After independence, traditional patronage for the arts was dwindling, and, in this scenario, Air India played a very important role in commissioning and collecting art. This zeal for art and crafts of India led to the creation of a very image for the airline which tried to capture the opulence and grandeur of the erstwhile era under the Maharajas.