| Masterpieces restored; back in home gallery |
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| Written by Aditi Tandon, Tribune News Service, Chandigarh | |
| Sunday, 20 January 2008 | |
 Conservators from National Museum, New Delhi, have resurrected 17 contemporary artworks from the collection of Government Museum, Sector 10. Valued at several lakhs in the international market, these originals by masters like Jamini Roy, Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Amrita Shergill and Sobha Singh, among others, were in poor condition and in danger of being lost when these were handed over to National Museum experts for restoration.It took four conservators two years to nurse them back to life. In Chandigarh to complete the formalities, S.P. Singh, director, conservation, National Museum, said 16 works had been returned to the home gallery. Only one work, of Kirpal Singh, a contemporary of Sobha Singh, remained to be restored. “This is seriously damaged. We are trying to block further loss of sheen,” said S.P. Singh, who met some UT officials. The works, most of them 100 years old, belong to leading lights of the Indian art world. Each is valued at lakhs, especially the ones from the repertoire of Abanindranath Tagore, father of Bengal School movement which began as nationalist reaction to colonial influences in art. Jamini Roy and Gaganendranath Tagore belong to the same school. Among the restored works are two of Jamini Roy’s, one each of Abanindranath and Gaganendranath Tagore, Satish Gujral, Kirpal Singh and Nicholas Roerich. Amrita Shergill’s legendary “On the Beach” - the only Shergill work in Government Museum collection - has been conserved with tremendous care to retain originality. There are three works of Sobha Singh, the finest being his classic ‘Guru Nanak Dev’. “De-lamination of paint was another major problem. Since most of these works are on paper, there were tears. Oils on canvas had problems of flaking. Each work had to be cleaned, flattened to prevent uplifting, consolidated and then mended for strength and support. It was a painstaking task undertaken under great care,” said M.S. Gill from National Museum, who worked on the project. For Government Museum, the project has been crucial as it involved preservation of priceless works from its own collection. |
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