A few weeks ago, a friend told me about this new National Gallery of Modern Art in Bangalore. It was inaugurated in February 2009 and I had completely missed the news about it. So, I visited the place today and had a great time. All the greats of the Indian art world are represented here and I could see the originals. Tagore (Rabindranath), Tagore (Abanindranath), Anjolie Ela Menon, Amrita Sher Gil, S G Vasudev, K K Hebbar, Yusuf Arakkal, K C S Paniker, M F Husain, Ramkinkar Baij, Nand Lal Bose, Jamini Roy, P T Reddy, Ravi Varma are all there. Of course there are more, either their names are not familiar to me or I do not recall some of them at the moment.
I have heard many people say that they do not understand "Modern Art." What they mean, often, is that they do not understand "abstract" art. If you are one of them, do not make the mistake of dismissing this Gallery of Modern Art. There are many "realistic" paintings - or should I say non-abstract? If you are reasonably interested in art, you should visit this beautiful gallery.
Even if you do not "like" the paintings, I am sure you enjoy the architecture. It is an old royal residential building converted to a museum. Manikyavelu Manisons.
A modern wing has been added with completely contemporary architecture that does not stick out like a sore thumb. See below a picture of the open staircase in the modern wing. (The greenish tinge to the picture is thanks to the trees all around it!
I was given permission to take a single picture of one of the rooms to add to my post. (See below) The pictures on either side of the window are very good indeed.
If you want to know where this gallery is, DO NOT LOOK for it in the maps on the internet. You get five different locations and of course four of them are wrong!
The exhibits keep changing with paintings "borrowed" from the NGMA Delhi. Keep an eye open for the announcements in the papers.
There are displays that give some information on the artists, schools of art and such, which are very educative.
On the whole, a great experience. It is sad though, that there are not many visitors to this gallery. I was there for more than two hours (not sufficient, actually, and plan to visit again soon) and saw only two other visitors.
After all the good words, there are some comments. I will be sending the this post's link to NGMA and I hope they take it as a feedback and act on it. Based on my brief interaction with the staff there, I am almost certain that they will.
The floor of the gallery may deserve better maintenance. Viewing some exhibits is hampered by the lighting. Let me give a specific example. When you stand in front of one of the Anjolie Ela Menon paintings, a light meant for a painting on the other side of the wall is directly in your eye. This one is a very beautiful painting of a mother and her two children. Some of the name boards may have typographical errors, Thrashing instead of Threshing, for instance, next to one of Ramkinkar Baij's paintings. These comments are only to make an excellent place better.
I have heard many people say that they do not understand "Modern Art." What they mean, often, is that they do not understand "abstract" art. If you are one of them, do not make the mistake of dismissing this Gallery of Modern Art. There are many "realistic" paintings - or should I say non-abstract? If you are reasonably interested in art, you should visit this beautiful gallery.
Even if you do not "like" the paintings, I am sure you enjoy the architecture. It is an old royal residential building converted to a museum. Manikyavelu Manisons.
A modern wing has been added with completely contemporary architecture that does not stick out like a sore thumb. See below a picture of the open staircase in the modern wing. (The greenish tinge to the picture is thanks to the trees all around it!
I was given permission to take a single picture of one of the rooms to add to my post. (See below) The pictures on either side of the window are very good indeed.
If you want to know where this gallery is, DO NOT LOOK for it in the maps on the internet. You get five different locations and of course four of them are wrong!
The best I can do is - it is on the road between Mt Carmel College and Chalukya Hotel, called Palace Road. The full address is NGMA, 49, Palace Road, Bangalore, 560052. Ph: 22201027
The exhibits keep changing with paintings "borrowed" from the NGMA Delhi. Keep an eye open for the announcements in the papers.
There are displays that give some information on the artists, schools of art and such, which are very educative.
On the whole, a great experience. It is sad though, that there are not many visitors to this gallery. I was there for more than two hours (not sufficient, actually, and plan to visit again soon) and saw only two other visitors.
After all the good words, there are some comments. I will be sending the this post's link to NGMA and I hope they take it as a feedback and act on it. Based on my brief interaction with the staff there, I am almost certain that they will.
The floor of the gallery may deserve better maintenance. Viewing some exhibits is hampered by the lighting. Let me give a specific example. When you stand in front of one of the Anjolie Ela Menon paintings, a light meant for a painting on the other side of the wall is directly in your eye. This one is a very beautiful painting of a mother and her two children. Some of the name boards may have typographical errors, Thrashing instead of Threshing, for instance, next to one of Ramkinkar Baij's paintings. These comments are only to make an excellent place better.