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Over the last sixty years there have been numerous scholarly
publications and catalogues regarding nearly every aspect of Indian Art.
But almost nothing has been written about the pioneering collectors in
India who started forming interesting collections of the subcontinent's
Art when it was largely neglected elsewhere. So it was with excitement
that Dr Pal's book was keenly awaited by Indian Art lovers and
connoisseurs across the world. Sadly it doesn't quite live up to
expectations despite the intriguing and often fascinating material
contained within it. As we have come to expect from Marg, the book
has been produced to a very high standard - it is well laid out, the
illustrations are excellent and the script is easy to read. Dr Pal has
divided his book into sections. He first considers the early collectors in
Calcutta and then progresses to those from Patna and Benares. There is
a charming section about the brilliant Russian artist Nicholas Roerich
and his sons. The latter part of the book looks at the extraordinary
collections formed in Bombay and Hyderabad.
Abanindranath Tagore and his brother Gaganendranath are widely
regarded as among the greatest of the Bengal school painters.
Abanindranath's work has a subtlety and sometimes melancholy beauty
unmatched by his rivals. His brother's work is often strongly influenced
by Japanese painting. Pal reveals that they were also collectors in their
day. But despite some interesting anecdotes on their collecting habits,
we learn rather little about the collections themselves - indeed if the
few paltry items that are illustrated from their collections are anything
to go by, it suggests that the brothers were unable to afford great art -
even when prices were so low. On the other hand works from the
collection of Ananda Kentish Coomeraswamy are world-renowned, as
are his impressive publications. He was of Sri Lankan origin (then
Ceylon) and came to Calcutta early in the 20"* century and frequented
the Tagore house. We learn fascinating details of his rivalry with other
collectors in the city and how he put together one of the greatest
collections of Indian paintings ever formed. But for me the third
chapter on the bhadralok collectors of Calcutta is much more
interesting as almost nothing was previously known about collectors
like the Ghose brothers. 'Bhadralok' is a Bengali word which refers to
highly cultured and educated gentlemen. The Ghoses were an old and
distinguished family from north Calcutta and the two brothers Anu and Ajit were professionals who spent their lives collecting. The breadth of
their collections was extraordinary - it encompassed Mughal paintings
and manuscripts including the magnificent Tarikh-i-Alfi, dozens of
Rajput and Pahari paintings as well as those from Orissa and of course
Bengal. His Akbar period painting of King Solomon and Animals from
the manuscript lyar-i-Danish is among the finest paintings of the period
that exists. Similarly Ghose's Chola bronze Nataraja is superb.
On reaching the end of the third chapter, which closes the discussion on
the Calcutta collectors, one is immediately aware that Pal has entirely
ignored the great collectors of Anglo-Indian paintings in Calcutta. The
Tagore family of Pathuriaghata were formidable collectors of art from
the early 19th century. Gopi Mohun, with the help of the artist George
Chinnery, assembled a magnificent collection of European paintings
including many Anglo-Indian works. His descendant Sir Prodyot
Coomar Tagore visited London in the early 1930s and augmented the
collection with exceptional paintings by the Daniells, William Hodges,
Thomas Hickey and, although unrecognized at the time, a superb pair
of landscapes by Zoffany. The Kejriwal family acquired some of the
collection but also bought great works by Ravi Varma, magnificent
Bengal school paintings and fine early Pala sculptures. One has the
impression that Pal has studiously avoided discussion of these and other
collectors with British connections in the city.
On the other hand the most enjoyable chapter considers perhaps the
most interesting collector in India in that period - Rai Krishnadas. He
was of a distinguished Benares family and was a man of the most
refined taste. He assiduously collected both Indian art and Antiquities
from his early youth. Have assembled a collection worthy of a great
museum he himself donated his collection to the Banaras Hindu
University. For anyone visiting the holy city, a visit to see that
collection is a real treat. Beautiftilly displayed, the collection contains
world renowned freasures - great Mughal works and superb sculpture
from all over India. Pal rightly devotes two whole chapters to the
Bombay collectors and particularly the Parsees. The Tata Brothers, Sir
Dorab and Sir Ratan inherited both a sizeable business that included the
famous Taj Mahal Hotel, and also a vast fortune. It enabled them,
within a surprisingly short space of time - the first twenty years of the
20thCentury - to put together a huge collection of over 5,000 works of
every description. The diversity is staggering - they acquired the finest
Indian paintings available including fabulous works by Nainsukh. In
addition they bought huge quantities of Chinese and Japanese
porcelain, religious objects from neighbouring Tibet, Nepal and Burma, and and three dimensional objects of every descript!on. Pal only mentions
in passing the European paintings but they include four works by
Constable and other fine paintings. The brothers bequeathed the entire
collection to the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India for us all
to enjoy. The Tatas weren't alone in Bombay as formidable collectors -:
Sir Cowasji Jehangir with his wife favoured Mughal and Deccani
paintings and formed a collection of great aesthetic merit - his early
17th century portrait from Golconda of a young Prince with a parrot has
few rivals. They also bought the best Chola bronzes then available.
This book is well worth acquiring. It is enjoyable to read and certainly
contains a wealth of material that one doesn't find elsewhere. One just
wishes that Pal had been rather more balanced in his approach rather
than concentrating on the collections he admires while excluding
anything that smacks of colonialism. India would be so much the
poorer without the splendid European paintings of its landscape and
people. Today most of the collectors of Anglo-Indian paintings are
Indians themselves and don't share the author's obvious prejudice.
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