On Collecting Four Famous Collectors who shaped Indian art historyAnkan Kazi and Shreeja Sen March 01, 2023 How did the idea of Indian art come to be constructed over the last century and more? The painstaking work of collectors and curators went a long way towards establishing the history of art in India. In this article we highlight some of the most significant collectors of art from South Asia over the course of the twentieth century. Usually starting as personal collections, most of them would eventually donate their works to museums in India or abroad, allowing these rare works to be seen regularly by new generations of art enthusiasts across the world. Their collections, curated exhibitions and publications fashioned the canons of Indian modern and pre-modern art |

Stella Kramrisch. Image courtesy: Stella Kramrisch Papers, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives

Stella Kramrisch. Image courtesy: Stella Kramrisch Papers, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives

Stella Kramrisch. Image courtesy: Stella Kramrisch Papers, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives

Stella Kramrisch. Image courtesy: Stella Kramrisch Papers, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives

Stella Kramrisch. Image courtesy: Stella Kramrisch Papers, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives
'We are peculiar people. I say this with reference to the fact that whereas almost all other peoples have called their theory of art or expression a 'rhetoric' and have thought of art as a kind of knowledge, we have invented an 'aesthetic' and think of art as a kind of feeling.' -A. K. Coomaraswamy, 'A Figure of Speech or a Figure of Thought?' |
A. K. Coomaraswamy Yaksas Image courtesy: archive.org |

A. K. Coomaraswamy
Image courtesy: wikimedia commons

A. K. Coomaraswamy
Image courtesy: wikimedia commons

A. K. Coomaraswamy
Image courtesy: wikimedia commons

A. K. Coomaraswamy
Image courtesy: wikimedia commons

A. K. Coomaraswamy
Image courtesy: wikimedia commons
A. K. Coomaraswamy |

Large First Drawing for a Miniature Painting, late eighteenth century, Brush and charcoal, 12 1/2 x 9 5/8 in. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Image courtesy: Brooklyn Museum

Portrait of Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra, ca. 1800-1810. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper, sheet: 8 3/4 x 7 1/4 in. (22.2 x 18.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Image courtesy: Brooklyn Museum

Utka Nayika, late eighteenth century. Opaque watercolor on paper, sheet: 9 13/16 x 7 9/16 in., Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Image courtesy: Brooklyn Museum

Large First Drawing for a Miniature Painting, late eighteenth century, Brush and charcoal, 12 1/2 x 9 5/8 in. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Image courtesy: Brooklyn Museum

Portrait of Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra, ca. 1800-1810. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper, sheet: 8 3/4 x 7 1/4 in. (22.2 x 18.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Image courtesy: Brooklyn Museum

Utka Nayika, late eighteenth century. Opaque watercolor on paper, sheet: 9 13/16 x 7 9/16 in., Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Image courtesy: Brooklyn Museum

Large First Drawing for a Miniature Painting, late eighteenth century, Brush and charcoal, 12 1/2 x 9 5/8 in. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Image courtesy: Brooklyn Museum
‘[Rabindranath Tagore] asked for bottles of coloured ink, and, when these arrived, there began to emerge a series of paintings and sketches.’ -Leonard Elmhirst (The Dartington Hall Trust Archives) |
|

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Untitled (Figure in Yellow), Mixed media on paper laid on card, 1938 24.7 x 17.2 in.
Collection: DAG

Leonard Elmhirst (left) with Rabindranath Tagore (center)
Image courtesy: The Dartington Hall Trust archive

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Untitled (Figure in Yellow), Mixed media on paper laid on card, 1938 24.7 x 17.2 in.
Collection: DAG

Leonard Elmhirst (left) with Rabindranath Tagore (center)
Image courtesy: The Dartington Hall Trust archive

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Untitled (Figure in Yellow), Mixed media on paper laid on card, 1938 24.7 x 17.2 in.
Collection: DAG

Leonard Elmhirst (left) with Rabindranath Tagore (center)
Image courtesy: The Dartington Hall Trust archive
Leonard Elmhirst |
‘(My) first meeting (with Rai Krishna Dasa, ‘doyen of Indian collectors’) was in Patna in March 1942 when as a young member of the Indian Civil Service and local District Magistrate, I presided at a Hindi lecture on Pahari painting which he gave in Patna University. We became friends and I stayed with him at Banaras on four occasions between then and 1948, feeling only too happy to escape from the officialdom of Bihar…What students of Italian painting may have gained from visits to I Tatti, I gained from visits to Sita Nivas.’ - W. G. Archer, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills |
|

Drawing of the Qutb Minar in Delhi, by a Delhi artist, c.1830-35, 22 x 28 cm., watercolour, from the collection of Mildred and W.G. Archer. Inscribed on the front: 'Kootub Minar near Delhi'. Image courtesy: British Library Board, Shelfmark: Add.Or.4034, Item number: 4034.

Drawing of the Qutb Minar in Delhi, by a Delhi artist, c.1830-35, 22 x 28 cm., watercolour, from the collection of Mildred and W.G. Archer. Inscribed on the front: 'Kootub Minar near Delhi'. Image courtesy: British Library Board, Shelfmark: Add.Or.4034, Item number: 4034.

Drawing of the Qutb Minar in Delhi, by a Delhi artist, c.1830-35, 22 x 28 cm., watercolour, from the collection of Mildred and W.G. Archer. Inscribed on the front: 'Kootub Minar near Delhi'. Image courtesy: British Library Board, Shelfmark: Add.Or.4034, Item number: 4034.

Drawing of the Qutb Minar in Delhi, by a Delhi artist, c.1830-35, 22 x 28 cm., watercolour, from the collection of Mildred and W.G. Archer. Inscribed on the front: 'Kootub Minar near Delhi'. Image courtesy: British Library Board, Shelfmark: Add.Or.4034, Item number: 4034.

Drawing of the Qutb Minar in Delhi, by a Delhi artist, c.1830-35, 22 x 28 cm., watercolour, from the collection of Mildred and W.G. Archer. Inscribed on the front: 'Kootub Minar near Delhi'. Image courtesy: British Library Board, Shelfmark: Add.Or.4034, Item number: 4034.
W. G. Archer |

Title page of Kalighat Paintings by W. G. Archer. Image courtesy: archive.org

Archer's books frequently carried catalogues that mentioned names of Indian collectors, making them a valuable resource for provenance researchers and art historians

Title page of Kalighat Paintings by W. G. Archer. Image courtesy: archive.org

Archer's books frequently carried catalogues that mentioned names of Indian collectors, making them a valuable resource for provenance researchers and art historians

Title page of Kalighat Paintings by W. G. Archer. Image courtesy: archive.org

Archer's books frequently carried catalogues that mentioned names of Indian collectors, making them a valuable resource for provenance researchers and art historians
‘I arrived there just a little before midnight. It was beautifully calm… It was the day of the Santiniketan mela, the founding day, so there was a beautiful fair where the villagers came and displayed their handmade goods. I fell in love, first of all, with a toy wooden cart, a ratha, and also with one painting, a sketch of that bare landscape by one of the pupils of Nandalal Bose., who was the principal of Kala Bhavan. That painting, however, was priced at ten rupees and I couldn’t afford that because I had seven rupees left, so I spoke to Nandalal Bose and said, ‘I’m anxious to get it.’ He said, ‘Alright, he’ll give it to you for seven rupees.’ These were my last seven rupees. I had nothing else. This was my first day in Santiniketan.’ -Stella Kramrisch, from Exploring India's Sacred Art: Selected Writings of Stella Kramrisch |
|

Artist unknown, 12 Zodiac Signs, Page from a dispersed series of the Sangrahanisutra, seventeenth century
Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper, Sheet: 4 1/4 × 9 3/4 in., Stella Kramrisch Collection, 1994. Image Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives

Artist unknown, 12 Zodiac Signs, Page from a dispersed series of the Sangrahanisutra, seventeenth century
Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper, Sheet: 4 1/4 × 9 3/4 in., Stella Kramrisch Collection, 1994. Image Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives

Artist unknown, 12 Zodiac Signs, Page from a dispersed series of the Sangrahanisutra, seventeenth century
Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper, Sheet: 4 1/4 × 9 3/4 in., Stella Kramrisch Collection, 1994. Image Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives

Artist unknown, 12 Zodiac Signs, Page from a dispersed series of the Sangrahanisutra, seventeenth century
Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper, Sheet: 4 1/4 × 9 3/4 in., Stella Kramrisch Collection, 1994. Image Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives

Artist unknown, 12 Zodiac Signs, Page from a dispersed series of the Sangrahanisutra, seventeenth century
Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper, Sheet: 4 1/4 × 9 3/4 in., Stella Kramrisch Collection, 1994. Image Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives

Artist unknown, 12 Zodiac Signs, Page from a dispersed series of the Sangrahanisutra, seventeenth century
Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper, Sheet: 4 1/4 × 9 3/4 in., Stella Kramrisch Collection, 1994. Image Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives
Stella Kramrisch |

Artist Unknown, A Lady Consoled By Her Confidante, Page from a dispersed series of the Rasikapriya, c. 1785
Opaque watercolor on paper, Sheet: 10 × 7 1/8 in., Stella Kramrisch Collection, 1994. Image Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives

Artist Unknown, A Lady Consoled By Her Confidante, Page from a dispersed series of the Rasikapriya, c. 1785
Opaque watercolor on paper, Sheet: 10 × 7 1/8 in., Stella Kramrisch Collection, 1994. Image Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives

Artist Unknown, A Lady Consoled By Her Confidante, Page from a dispersed series of the Rasikapriya, c. 1785
Opaque watercolor on paper, Sheet: 10 × 7 1/8 in., Stella Kramrisch Collection, 1994. Image Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives

Artist Unknown, A Lady Consoled By Her Confidante, Page from a dispersed series of the Rasikapriya, c. 1785
Opaque watercolor on paper, Sheet: 10 × 7 1/8 in., Stella Kramrisch Collection, 1994. Image Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives

Artist Unknown, A Lady Consoled By Her Confidante, Page from a dispersed series of the Rasikapriya, c. 1785
Opaque watercolor on paper, Sheet: 10 × 7 1/8 in., Stella Kramrisch Collection, 1994. Image Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives
According to Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein once said that, ‘You can either buy clothes or buy pictures. It's that simple. No one who is not very rich can do both. Pay no attention to your clothes and no attention at all to the mode, and buy your clothes for comfort and durability, and you will have the clothes money to buy pictures.’ Having a friend like Pablo Picasso, who also made a portrait of her, perhaps made it easier for her to dissolve the boundaries between buying everyday commodities like clothes, and art. Increasingly over the twentieth century, however, modernist artists (Stein included) emphasised the proximity between everyday objects and sanctified works of ‘high’ art—constantly pushing one domain to absorb the contents of the other. If art has been democratised to a large extent through such experimental practices, art collecting has also called for imaginative interventions into deciding what should be collected, from where and how they must be collected. It is difficult to imagine this today, but the collectors who are featured here worked in an environment when the familiar canons of Indian art did not exist, even though actual artworks were widely available. Through their public and personal work, which included making connections with other collectors as well, they added some of the crucial building blocks for an Indian art history today—going right back to ancient Indian art. |
|