Indian artistic achievement honored at PEM

The Harmony Art Foundation by Tina Ambani has lent special works by three masters of contemporary Indian art to the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM).

The world-famous museum has just had ‘Sensational India!’, the annual Indian art & culture festival on April 10. Chief curator at PEM said:

"We are thrilled to have these three key works from the Ambani Collection. Their extended loan is just one of the many ways in which we are bringing global
contemporary art to PEM."

Among the works on offer courtesy Harmony, Anish Kapoor's ‘Halo’ will be on display at the PEM Atrium. It has been made available by the Tina & Anil Ambani Collection on long-term loan. ‘Halo’ is a shallow stainless steel circular cone, 10 feet in diameter. Its surface pleated in a radial pattern marks a manipulation that is associated more commonly with pliable fabric than unyielding steel.

F.N. Souza's ‘Birth’ and Paritosh Sen's ‘Ahmedabad Scene’ are the other two works. A press release elaborates:

“The Ambanis also lent ‘Birth’ by Souza and ‘Ahmedabad Scene’ by Sen to the new exhibit drawn from PEM's Chester & Davida Herwitz Collection, the country's most important public collection of Indian modern art.”

The Peabody Essex Museum started collecting art from India in 1799. Among its most stunning pieces are from the 1600s to the present (works) currently featured in the Prashant H. Fadia Foundation as well as Deshpande Foundation galleries of traditional art from India, and also the Edger M. Batchelder Gallery that showcases key Mughal works.

With the addition of the Chester & Davida Herwitz contemporary Indian art collection in 2000, it established a unique position internationally as the proud holder of probably the most comprehensive collection of Indian art to reflect its breadth and depth.