Ministry to assess its inventory of art collection

new delhi: though the national gallery of modern art (ngma) has yet to formally decide whether it will offload old works, for the first time in its 47 years of existence, the ministry of culture has set in motion a process of assessing whether its collection is representative of contemporary indian art. of its 15,427 works of art, 6,769 are by nandlal bose, 638 are by ramkinker baij and 215 are by jamini roy, all maestros of the bengal school. as for india's first modern master, raja ravi varma, there are just 11. the progressives are equally poorly represented: there are just three works by kh ara, 20 by francis newton souza, 10 by sh raza, just one by sk bakre, and 31 by mf husain (just 26 more than his son and daughter combined). art historian geeta kapur pooh-poohs the idea that the bengal school is over-represented. "these are all national art treasures acquired with great affection under mrs indira gandhi's direction at a time when the ngma under lp sihare was at its peak." but not all the works are of even quality. take the eight canvases by installation artist naresh kapuria, better known as an organiser of page three events. or the six paintings by sarbjeet singh, whose works also adorn a restaurant in pandara park. or even the two canvases by mf husain-baiter raghu vyas, whose association with the rss is well-known. or the one work by the "multi-faceted" komala varadhan. though collector nitin bhayana, who's on the advisory committee, welcomes the weeding out of some works (though he doesn't mention which), kapur insists that even "if there have been mistakes in purchases, they cannot be corrected at the cost of losing great works". with just rs 14 lakh at its disposal for acquisition of new works and a raja ravi varma selling in the market for upwards of rs 35 lakh, the cash-strapped ngma's advisory committee has been asked to consider the auction of some of its "less worthy works" to raise finances. after the auction, the ministry hopes to make the ngma collection more balanced in terms of both artists and schools. "the younger artists are abysmally represented," says bhayana. there are just two works by mk surendran nair, one by rekha rodwittiya (his wife), none by jitesh kallat, one by a balasubramaniam and three by the sculptor g ravinder reddy. the ngma has also taken the first step towards a new purchase policy: minister of state for culture maneka gandhi has scrapped the purchase committee, and asked the existing advisory panel to scout for works in their own regions and email the selected works to all members. if endorsed by a minimum of 10, the work will be bought. perhaps venerable artist jehangir sabavala — eight of his works are at the ngma — should have the last word: "not everything that a museum collects is top class. there's nothing wrong in its collection being vetted but each painting must be considered on merit, with attention and care. something bought 30 years ago may not be as worthy as it is now." he adds: "my work included." and perhaps the 141 works listed under 'unknown'.