The new guardians of Indian art: From royal restorations to modern museums

The fading murals in the royal palace of Bundi are regaining some of their vibrancy with restoration work that started in 2020 under the watchful eye of siblings Janaki Kumari and Manavendra Pratap Singh from Alwar’s erstwhile royal family. In their 20s, they are not just rescuing a part of history but also creating a wealth of scholarship around these significant 16th century murals.

At Arthshila, a different kind of bridge is being created—one that spans geographies, communities and disciplines. Ever since it first opened its doors to the public in 2016, it has grown into a network of multi-art centres across Ahmedabad, Santiniketan, Goa, Delhi and Kochi. The opening of Arthshila Patna in January marks the next chapter in this journey. Situated on Bailey Road, it comes with a reading room, auditorium, galleries and a children’s experience centre.

The art landscape of the country is at an interesting stage. There is a greater visibility of Indian artists internationally. Within the country, new spaces are opening up. The art world is looking beyond the usual hubs to start micro fests, niche museums and exhibition spaces housed in refurbished nightclubs and warehouses. In recent years, new curators, conservators and collectors have emerged to broaden the landscape.

“We don’t need only smart cities, we need smart people, and that’s possible only if we start building conversations around culture,” says Sanjiv Kumar, 58, a former banker, who believes that children should be exposed to heritage from an early age. To this effect, he started Takshila Educational Society in Delhi to support the creation of schools with an emphasis on art and culture in the 1990s. Arthshila was a natural progression from that.

Kumar felt that the cultural landscape, particularly tier-2 centres, was not keeping up with the rapid pace of development. Hence he set sights on cities like Ahmedabad and Santiniketan, which had a rich cultural fabric, to create a contemporary immersive space. In Leh, Arthshila recently undertook the restoration of a 200-year-old village home, which now houses exhibitions, seminars and other capsules related to art and architecture. It has started alliances with art festivals to create student pavilions.

Nurturing emerging artistic practices is also the focus of Aishwarya Suresh, 30. The Kochi-based curator is being lauded for Edam, an exhibition featuring 36 artists and collectives, running parallel to the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Her research-based curation has resulted in an interesting mix of artworks, including those by Devu Nenmara. The 63-year-old artist picked up the paintbrush for the first time during the covid-19 pandemic, displaying a rare flourish of folk modernism. For Edam, Suresh travelled across Kerala for six months, identifying artists and visiting their studios. According to Pramod Kumar K.G., managing director of the museum consultancy Eka Cultural Resources & Research, it is important to laud young curators, who are focusing on the art of community-driven practices.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan takes its tryst with heritage conservation to the next stage by making its cultural centres a hub for global discourse. In Jaipur, Padmanabh Singh from the former royal family of Jaipur state is keeping one eye on the past and the other on the future by leading a “cultural renaissance of sorts”. He is restoring stepwells, and starting the Jaipur Centre for Art within the City Palace as an exhibition space for contemporary art practices. By opening Sarvato, a chic space to showcase royal cuisine, or infusing fresh energy into the Sculpture Park at the Madhavendra Palace, he is making Jaipur a new-age cultural centre.

In Bundi too, Janaki Kumari and Manavendra Pratap Singh are hoping to turn the quaint city into a tourist destination by drawing attention to the priceless art housed within the palace. The conservation work is being carried out privately through their family’s Kuldevi Ashapura Mataji Trust.

Sushant Pathak, CMO, StoneX Global, a company specialising in natural stone that supports research-led activities and exhibitions related to indigenous stone materiality, says the stone columns, frescoes, and the murals in Bundi are “living” documents that trace India’s architectural and material intelligence. According to him, the depth, pigment quality—especially the distinctive blue facade—is hard to replicate anywhere else.

There is also a new collector on the block. In his 40s, Shankh Mitra, CEO of Welltower, US-based real estate investment trust that dabbles in healthcare infrastructure, is a relatively new entrant to the art world. However, buzz in art circles suggests that he is the one to watch out for when it comes to bidding for works by Modern masters. “A fiery underbidder,” is how a Delhi-based gallerist, on request of anonymity, describes Mitra. At an auction by Sotheby’s in London, Mitra won the bid for F.N. Souza’s Houses in Hampstead at $7.57 million. He also helped set the record for Tyeb Mehta’s Trussed Bull for close to ₹70 lakh at SaffronArt’s auction last year. Mitra joined Welltower in 2016, and rose through the ranks. It will be interesting to see how he influences art records for modern masters in the near future.

Abhilasha Ojha is a Delhi-based art and culture writer.