Air India plans to loan back artworks for its office after government transfer to NGMA

Though officially the government was in-charge of the art works, it is Air India which has been responsible for its custody even after the airline’s privatisation.

Air India plans to loan back some of its over 4,000 paintings, sculptures and other artefacts comprising works by M.F. Husain, S.H. Raza as well as Salvador Dali ashtrays to recreate the airline’s history at its new office even as concerns remain over the government’s decision to transfer the vast repertoire of the airline’s art works to the National Gallery of Modern Arts (NGMA).

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Civil Aviation signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Culture in a symbolic handing over of the art works which will be housed at NGMA after they are transferred “in six to seven months” from Mumbai where they are stored in a godown at Air India’s office in Nariman Point. These art works were under the charge of a special purpose vehicle of the government which houses all the assets of the erstwhile national carrier, which were not part of the privatisation deal under which Tata Sons gained the ownership of Air India last year.

“We would like to loan back some of the art works for our new office in Gurgaon to tell the story of Air India and its rich history,” its CEO Campbell Wilson told The Hindu.

It is learnt that the airline had expressed its intent to keep with itself all the art works which were a result of its founder J.R.D. Tata’s vision to showcase “a little of India” at its booking offices across the world at a time the erstwhile Tata Airlines was expanding its global reach.

Though officially the government was in-charge of the art works, it is Air India which has been responsible for its custody even after the airline’s privatisation. A senior official of the NGMA declined to provide a timeline over which the artworks will be brought to Delhi, and said that they will now start the process of cataloguing them. Subsequently, it will hold exhibitions on different themes to showcase these art pieces. Culture Minister G..K Reddy said at a ceremony on Wednesday that the collection a schedule for exhibitions will soon be brought out and that these works will also be opened to audiences abroad through innovative digital interfaces.

The art works were collected over a period of six decades between early 1950s and 2007 and started when the erstwhile Tata Airlines was expanding its global reach and needed to showcase “a little of India”, in the words of its founder J.R.D. Tata, in its booking offices across the world. The art collection comprises works by India’s best-known artistes such as M.F. Hussain, S.H. Raza, S. Gaitonde, K.A. Ara, Anjolie Ela Menon, Arpana Caur and B. Prabha . There are also stone sculptures dating back to the ninth century, wood work, a collection of exquisite clocks as well as a costume collection.

Artefacts in the collection recall the heyday of the airline such as ashtrays designed by surrealist Salvador Dali which were meant to be gifted to first-class passengers or menu cards painted by B. Prabha.