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Indian Express
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
A House of Legacy: Arpana Caur on curating new galleries
At 70, artist Arpana Caur is charting new creative paths while reflecting on her five-decade artistic journey. One of India's leading contemporary painters, known for her evocative, figurative style and layered spiritual and social narratives, she has spent the past year curating four new permanent galleries at the Academy of Fine Arts and Literature in New Delhi, founded by her mother and author Ajeet Cour. These additions bring the total to seven galleries, showcasing her collection of Indian miniatures, folk art, her own works across mediums and a dedicated space honouring Ajeet Cour's literary legacy. Could you talk about the new permanent galleries? We had been envisioning these galleries for some time but the project gained urgency after last year's floods in Delhi, when several works in our collection were damaged due to water seeping into the premises. The gallery dedicated to my mother features handwritten manuscripts of many of her books in Gurmukhi, including her autobiography Khanabadosh. It also showcases her archival photographs, memorabilia and awards. Designed by architect Gautam Bhatia, the two galleries housing my work are built around the design of 'forests'— encouraging visitors to wander through a maze of panels that trace my artistic practice. Among the works on view is the very first painting I made at the age of nine, inspired by an Amrita Sher-Gil work. These are works I kept with me over the years, and now want to share with a wider audience. Another gallery showcases your collection of miniatures. How did this collection come together? I've always been drawn to miniatures. As a child, I cherished weekend visits to Sapru House for children's films and to the National Museum, where my mother, sister and I would spend hours studying miniatures. As soon as I began selling my own art, I started collecting miniatures. In 1980, I traded my painting Mother and Daughter for Pratapaditya Pal's Court Paintings of India published by Kumar Gallery, as I couldn't afford it otherwise. That work later sold for Rs 9 lakh at an auction. Over the years, I exchanged several of my paintings for miniatures, including a collection of Sikh miniatures I acquired from MS Randhawa's nephew in Delhi. I made a conscious effort to collect works from different schools, with Pahari and Persian miniatures being the oldest. These miniatures have also deeply shaped my own work. For instance, I incorporated architectural elements from Basohli miniatures and used their vibrant colours to divide my canvases. I also borrowed the concept of Narikuncher from Persian miniatures, where several figures form a unified composition. A Sikh miniature that depicts Guru Nanak with Bhai Lalo, who earned his living by honest work, became the basis of my canvas Sachcha Sauda (2010). In your childhood, what were the influences that shaped your artistic journey and what inspired you to pursue art? As a child, I learned to play the sitar, I wrote poetry but painting brought me the greatest joy. Our neighbour, Surinder Chadha, was a graphic artist and I would spend hours at his studio asking questions. We had a library full of books and writers such as Shiv Batalvi, Amrita Pritam, Krishna Sobti and Khushwant Singh often visited it. From the age of seven, I studied Gurmukhi and immersed myself in Punjabi literature as well as the works of Sufi poets like Baba Farid and Bulleh Shah. Inspired by my mother, I initially aspired to be a teacher but she encouraged me to follow my passion for art. Despite studying English at Lady Shri Ram College, I continued painting with no formal training. In 1974, I participated in two group shows in Delhi — one organised by the German Embassy and another curated by MF Husain. Bhavesh da (Sanyal) encouraged me to plan my first solo show in 1975, and the rest followed. In 1979, I received a scholarship for an advanced course in painting at St Martin's School of Art in London but I was so homesick that I returned after two months. You have depicted the trauma of Partition and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in your works. Could you talk about that? Although I didn't witness the Partition first-hand, I felt its pain through the stories of my grandparents and mother. We still read the Guru Granth Sahib that my maternal grandfather brought with him when he fled Lahore in 1947. The 1984 genocide, however, was something I experienced. Living in Neeti Bagh, I remember seeing clouds of smoke rising from South Extension. A taxi stand near our house was set on fire. Our landlord took us to court, claiming my mother, Ajeet Cour, a 'prominent sardaarni', would make his house a target. We were forced to leave. For months, we stayed in my mother's childhood friend's drawing room in Munirka. My mother and I would distribute blankets and medicines in riot-affected colonies and refugee camps. It was during this time that she wrote Khanabadosh, which won her the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1986. I expressed my own trauma through painting. Though few were interested, I had to depict what I had witnessed. I remember Mrs (Roshan) Alkazi asking, 'Why paint these horrific scenes? You should create happier works.' I replied, 'I've seen it, and I had to paint it.' Mr (Ebrahim) Alkazi, however, bought some works from the series and exhibited them. How central has social commentary been to your artistic practice? I was raised to believe in equality and the importance of sharing wealth. As an artist, it felt natural to reflect these values in my work. The 'Maid Servant' series in the '70s came from observing the imbalance between mistress and servant — one with everything, the other with nothing. Some works from the series were featured in Lotus, a magazine edited by Faiz Ahmed Faiz. It was a true honour. A visit to Vrindavan in the late '80s compelled me to portray the plight of widows in a place so closely tied to Krishna and the gopis. When I heard of Maya Tyagi's brutal rape by the police, I couldn't stay silent. I responded with the 'Rakshak hi Bhakshak' series. At my first solo show in Mumbai at the Jehangir Art Gallery in 1980, MF Husain bought one of these works. My mother and I had spent the whole night installing all 20 works and, after a brief rest, we returned in the morning to learn that Husain had already made a purchase. He was always generous in encouraging young artists. Much later, I was touched to find that painting in his museum in Bengaluru. Several of your themes have continued over the years. Many of them have endured because I feel they are still relevant. For instance, the environment series I began in the early '80s feels more urgent than ever. During Covid, I reimagined The Last Supper with the world upside down, a reflection on how we have disrupted nature. Recurring motifs like the charkha, yogi and yogini continue to resurface in my work, each still rich with untapped meaning. Another long-standing concept — the cycle of day and night — has been with me for over 25 years. In this series, a yellow woman holds a thread while a dark woman cuts it — the scissors acting as a metaphor for time. Though galleries and dealers were initially sceptical of this motif, it earned me two affectionate nicknames: Satish Gujral called me Kainchi, and Mallika Sarabhai refers to me as Dhaga.
Hindustan Times
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Delhi's Sapru House, which shaped India's foreign policy, turns 70
Tucked away in a corner of the busy Barakhamba Road lies a quiet building that belies its rich historical tapestry, having helped shape India's foreign policy for the past seven decades. Standing as a testimony to a changing nation, this 'Mother Institute' celebrated its 70th anniversary this May — it is the Sapru House. Built in the art deco style with Makrana marble pillars, the Sapru House is more than just the headquarters of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA). Diplomats, scholars and historians refer to it as a living repository of ideas, diplomacy and culture, which has stood resilient through India's modern evolution. For Delhi, it's an equally important landmark building that has seen the Capital grow alongside it, as its red sandstone facade and Lutyens-inspired symmetry became symbolic of India's blend of various architecture. The building features a stupa-like dome, entrance gateway arches and colonnaded exteriors. As the ICWA marks 70 years at Sapru House, there is quiet pride among diplomats who work here. 'We have grown with India,' said Nutan Kapoor Mahawar (IFS), an additional secretary with the ministry of external affairs, under whom the facility comes. 'Our past is rich, but our eyes are on the future, as this institute believes in collaborating with institutes from across the India and we nurture some of the smartest and brightest foreign policy scholars,' she said, adding that ICWA presently holds over 100 memorandums of understanding (MoU) with think-thanks and institutions across the world for knowledge sharing. Inception of ICWA Founded in 1943, four years before India's independence, the ICWA was the country's first independent think-tank on international affairs, established mainly by the efforts of Tej Bahadur Sapru—the liberal nationalist and opposition member in the Council of States, who lent his name to the place—and Pandit Hriday Nath Kunzru. Sapru House, named after Sapru, who envisioned a sovereign platform for Indian foreign policy, became ICWA's permanent home in May 1955, when the building was inaugurated by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Former diplomat TCA Raghavan and Vivek Mishra, in their book 'Sapru House: A Story of Institution-Building in World Affairs', wrote that a fund collection drive to raise ₹10 lakh was launched to erect the iconic structure in 1949. The donors included Maharaja Yashwant Rao Holkar of Indore, who donated ₹1.5 lakh, then president Rajendra Prasad and PM Jawaharlal Nehru who donated ₹1,000 and ₹500 respectively—their salaries for a month. According to officials, at a time when foreign policy debates were largely shaped by colonial interests, the ICWA offered a distinctly Indian perspective. Its founding members included Nehru and then foreign minister VK Krishna Menon, who believed the council could help India find its voice on the global stage. 'We needed an Indian institution that would speak with both authority and independence,' Mahawar. A cultural and diplomatic landmark Sapru House has also incubated many influential international think tanks and institutions, said Hitesh J Rajpal, joint secretary. 'Indian School of International Studies was founded here, which was later moved to Jawaharlal Nehru University, the genesis of Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) was here... so, in nutshell, this building has nurtured a lot of important institutions,' he said. 'Subsequently, this institute held the first Asian Relation Conference in 1947, which laid the groundwork for the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) later,' he said, emphasising its historical importance. According to official records, then president of Vietnam Ho Chi Minh was felicitated at Sapru House in February 1958 and its key visitors included Rajendra Prasad, Abdul Kalam Azad and Jawaharlal Nehru, among others. In subsequent years, notable figures, such as the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese president Xi Jinping are among the facility's visitors, delivering key lectures or taking part in important discussions about India and the world. But Sapru House was never limited to just diplomacy. It has played host to an array of cultural events, ranging from Amrita Pritam's poetic tribute during the felicitation of Ho Chi Minh to renowned ghazal singer Begum Akhtar's performance in December 1964. Turning into a venue for cultural dialogue, music recitals, literary festivals, panel discussions and art exhibitions, especially during the 1960s and 1970s, it counts poets Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar', Harivansh Rai Bachchan and Shiv Batalvi among the performers it has hosted. The ICWA clarified that these performances were not organised by them, but by organisers or poets who sought to rent their premises. Renowned Kathak dancer Shovana Narayan, in Raghavan and Mishra's book, said: 'In the sixties and seventies, the ruling theatre were Sapru House, Ashoka Theatre and AIFACS, if any artiste was presented by either of the two namely, Ashoka and Sapru, or if by both, then one would say that the artist has arrived.' In their book, Raghavan and Mishra, noted that after the highs of the 1960s and 70s came the fall of the 1980s and 90s. 'The quality of functions declined during the 1980s and 1990s, research declined both in quantitative and qualitative terms and standards,' they wrote in their book. Cultural activities, however, were suspended after the ICWA Act, 2001, set the tone for its purpose — to study and promote Indian and international affairs, with the venue classified as an 'institute of national importance', according to Rajpal. The library Among the most powerful assets of the House is the ICWA Library. Less in the public eye, it is a vast repository of over 100,000 books, journals and diplomatic records dating to pre-independence, officials said. 'We have a collection of few rare books, some dating back to the 18th century, including 'The History of Japan' by Engelbertus Kampfer (1727) and 'The Himala Mountains: Rivers Jumna and Ganges' by James Baillie Fraser (1820),' said Narendra Kumar, the librarian at ICWA. He said that researchers and students described the library as a hidden sanctuary, a place where rare historical books offered exceptional insight and inspiration. 'With its collections on non-alignment, South-South Cooperation, and India's early foreign policy debates, it continues to serve as a vital resource for those seeking to understand the roots of India's global outlook,' he said. The library membership is open to a wide range of individuals, including diplomats, parliamentarians, civil servants, journalists, historians, academicians and postgraduate students in various fields. In recent years, as India's foreign policy has become more dynamic, the ICWA has also modernised, with digital archives, policy briefs and collaborative research across continents, the librarian said.
