Delhi Art Gallery 

Hauz Khas Village in South Delhi, is said to be living up or exceeding the aesthetic demands of Delhi and its visitors. Juxtaposed with the Hauz Khas Tomb on one side and the Deer Park on the other, the posh market of Hauz Khas is one of the favourites of the foreigners visiting India and a recommended option for those interested in buying articles of art.

Delhi Art Gallery was opened in 1993 by Mrs. Rama Anand with a keen desire to promote upcoming artists. In 1996 when Ashish Anand took over, he felt many illustrious artists from the first half of the century were forgotten in the blitzkrieg of press publicity, vested interests and media hype. Most people are usually unaware of these artists' pioneering contribution to Indian contemporary art. And Delhi Art Gallery has made a pioneering effort in this field.

Situated in the Hauz Khas Village, Delhi Art Gallery is a name to reckon with the Indian art, sculpture and painting in the area. The gallery is spread across three floors. Almost every month it exhibits the best of the artistic talents, besides the static dispalys. Next on the cards is an exhibition of the works by Rahi Masoom Raza.

The Demonic Line - an exhibition of Drawings (1940 - 1964) at the Gallery recently displayed the masterpieces by Francis Newton D'souza. Tara Lal at Delhi Art Gallery informs, "Francis D'Souza was the founder of the Progressive Artists Group in 1947, consisting of Hussain, Masoom Raza, and others. The works of D'Souza have earlier found their way into Galleries with international names like Francis Bacon, Henry Moore, Ivon Hutchins etc. After shifting to New York in 1967, he has had solo exhibitions at Gallery One (London), Guggenheim Foundation, New gallery One (London), Arts 38 (London). His collections may also be found at the National Gallery of Modern Art (Mumbai and New Delhi), British Museum (London), Haifa Museum (Israel) and National Gallery (Melbourne) etc. Though the works were mostly in pencil and may be called simplistic , yet they were a hit with the visitors and the buyers."

The gallery boasts of Old Masters like J. Sultan Ali, Raja Ravi Verma, Jamini Roy, Ramgopal Viyayvergiya, Sarda Ukil, Nandlal Bose, Gopal Ghosh , Mukul Dey, Asit Haldar, Manishi Dey to name a few. Among the contemporary artists' works on display, are those of Asit Sarkar, Parag Arya, Simi Bandopadhyay, Ramananda Bisht, R.S. Broota, Satish Chatterjee, Sunil Das.

The gallery also specializes in contemporary paintings, prints and sculptures by renowned and upcoming artists. It also gives works to auction houses like Christie's and Sotheby's in London and New York, every year. Back home, the gallery has organises exhibitions at Taj Mahal Hotel and the Park Royale Hotel and has provisions for providing corporate gifts on various occasions.

The Delhi Art Gallery has an in-house art consultancy department to service the needs of the corporate sector. The consultancy department specializes in sourcing a wide variety of artwork from painting commissions to murals to portraits. On its list of corporate customers are big-biz names like ABN Amro Bank, Scotia Bank, K.P.M.G., Thapar Group, SITA World Travel and many MNCs.

So in case you know of the Old Masters and are not able to find their forgotten masterpieces or would be interested in the contemporary artists, Delhi Art Gallery is worth a check-out.

Address: 11, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi.
Phone: 696 7619, 696 3050

- Saurabh Sharma