Air India art collection: First public viewing of ‘Maharaja’s treasure’ in Mumbai

Maharaja’s Treasure: Select Works of Art from the Famed Air India Collection, is on show from April 27-July 2 at NGMA, Mumbai.

After India gained independence, the national carrier, Air India, became an unlikely patron of art in the country, an honour the Maharaja wrested from the sultans and kings. The patronage allowed the airline to decorate its offices at home and abroad with paintings and sculptures that demonstrated national pride. Decades later, many of these works not seen by the public before, are to be mounted in an exhibition, the first such event after the sale of Air India two years ago.

The exhibition, Maharaja’s Treasure: Select Works of Art from the Famed Air India Collection, at Mumbai’s National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), will have the works of Anjolie Ela Menon, SH Raza, MF Husain, VS Gaitonde, B Prabha, KH Ara and GR Santosh. Over 190 objects, including paintings and sculptures, are to be exhibited on the four floors of the heritage building housing NGMA in the country’s commercial capital.

"Air India played a crucial role in promotion of art and culture at a very critical juncture in the country’s history. It is an important exhibition from that point of view," says NGMA’s (Mumbai) director Nazneen Banu. "We have tried to focus on the iconic works in the first exhibition, which has works of masters, and one section devoted to women and their contribution to society," adds Banu.

Following the sale of Air India to the Tata Group in October 2021, the government, which retained the airline’s non-core assets, had created a Special Purpose Vehicle called the Air India Assets Holding Limited, to transfer the airline’s art collection to the Ministry of Culture. In January this year, the entire collection was transferred to NGMA through a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Ministries of Civil Aviation and Culture. Maharaja’s Treasures is the first exhibition after NGMA became the sole custodian of the collection worth hundreds of crores of rupees.

"Approximately 190 artworks are going to be displayed in the exhibition mostly from the Modern period, except for a few stone sculptures from the 11th century and decorative art from the 19th century. Some of the artworks were part of exhibitions by Air India before," says Sushmit Sharma, the curator of the exhibition, which will be inaugurated by G Kishan Reddy, the Union Minister for Culture, Tourism and Development of North Eastern Region.

"This is the first exhibition since the declaration of the transfer of the Air India collection to NGMA was formalised. Hence, it was only fitting that the maiden exhibition gives a glimpse of the best iconic works that the acclaimed Air India collection is known for," explains Sharma, a Deputy Curator at NGMA, Delhi.

Among the works are Holi in Sea Face (1960) by KH Ara, Horses (1977) by MF Husain, Untitled (1970) by VS Gaitonde, Nawab and the Pigeon (1983) by Anjolie Ela Menon and Girl with Bird (1962) by B Prabha. "A lot of the artworks by famous artists in the collection were commissioned. Certain artists were also provided travel tickets for exhibitions abroad in lieu of an artwork as donation to the collection," says Sharma.

Structured into themes, the show has the iconic works of artists like Gaitonde, Husain and Ara on the first floor along with the famous white and blue ashtray designed for Air India in 1967 by Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali. Air India flew a baby elephant to Spain as Dali’s fee for the porcelain works that were then gifted to luxury-class passengers. The section on women’s contribution to society includes the works of Prabha, Arpana Caur and AA Raiba. There is a section devoted to rural life while the show also has abstract and expressionist works.

"The whole exhibition is curated in-house by NGMA with support from the Ministries of Culture and Civil Aviation. The work is almost complete," says Banu, who became the NGMA, Bengaluru, director four years ago before assuming additional charge of NGMA, Mumbai, last November. "We want to curate as many shows as possible from the Air India art collection to promote art and bring art to the masses. There will be multiple exhibitions in various locations in the country in the future. The support to the exhibition from the art community, art students, galleries and art institutions has been overwhelming."

The Air India art collection, temporarily housed under the supervision of NGMA in the Air India building in Mumbai, is currently undergoing documentation. The proximity to the Air India building helped clinch the venue of the first exhibition of the collection for NGMA, Mumbai. "The process of physical transfer of the collection to NGMA, Delhi, is going on," says Banu. "We have allocated the complete area (30,000 sq. ft) of NGMA, Mumbai, to Maharaja’s Treasure. We wanted to do complete justice to this collection."

Acquired over nearly half-a-century, the Air India art collection, considered a "national treasure", has  about 2,500 objects, including paintings, antiquities, sculptures, wooden carvings, glass paintings, decorative art, textile art and photographs. The Air India folklore is filled with incredible stories about its art collection amassed between the ’50s and ’90s. "Whenever Husain came to Mumbai, he would open his thela and take canvases out of it and sell them to Air India for Rs 100-200," says Jitender Bhargava, a former executive director of Air India. "I had an antique clock in my office (Air India) in Mumbai. A Parsi gentleman used to come only to wind its delicate hands."

Maharaja’s Treasure: Select Works of Art from the Famed Air India Collection, April 27-July 2, National Gallery of Modern Art, Sir Cowasji Jehangir Public Hall, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Fort, Mumbai. Entry fee: Rs 20 for domestic visitors, Rs 500 for foreign visitors (entry is free on opening day)