Itihaas- 63th Foundation Day (National Gallery of Modern Art)

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The NGMA is more than an institution- it is a catalyst that celebrates new ideas, stimulates creativity, and inspires connection with every visit of art lovers who come from all over the country and all over the world. Welcoming and thought provoking, the NGMA strives to delight its visitors with its informative, educative, and rich perspective on the art and artists of our time.

As a leading showcase in the capital city of Delhi for modern and contemporary art. The NGMA has earned a reputation for its fresh, distinctive exhibitions, which are conceived to engage visitors of various ages and varied cultural backgrounds. Through its exhibitions and programs, we address major trends in Indian contemporary art, architecture, and design, with an ongoing commitment to also place the work of Indian artists in national and international context.

Today in this 63rd commemoration we are striving to showcase the first group of modernist sculptors who made significant contributions to art-historical scholarship; and created sculptures and drawings that gave Indian contemporary art its first groups of modernist legends. This show is called Itihaas; it figures the works of 22 sculptors whose works belong to the NGMA collection.

From Devi Prasad RGY Choudhury to Ramdinkar Baij to Sankho Choudhuri to Prodosh Dasgupta to Amarnath Sehgal and a few more we have brought together a small show that reflects the rich diversity of Indian contemporary art's first modernists.

Sculptures and drawings and a few paintings all done by this group of sculptors becomes our tribute to the Masters of yesteryear. All of them worked with either metal or wood or marble. I hope you will enjoy this exhibition that gives you a flashback and brings alive yesterday once more. I would like to thank the NGMA team of curators for their efforts, I would like to thank scholar and curator Uma Nair for her historical essay. I would like to end with the words of the great researcher and thinker Anand Coomaraswamy:

"Looking at the works of art that are considered worthy of preservation in our Museums, and that were once the common objects of the market place, I could not but realize that a society can only be considered truly civilized when it is possible for every man to earn his living by the very work he would rather be doing than anything else in the world, a condition that has only been attained in social orders integrated on the basis of vocation, "svadharma".

Dear friends this 63rd celebration is a symbol of svadharma. These great sculptors created works born of the spirit of their roots and gave us a language for the ages. Welcome to one and all.

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