Where Art Meets History A Walk Through Mumbai’s Museums & Galleries

A haven for art connoisseurs, the Fort and Colaba areas in South Mumbai house some of the best art museums and galleries in the country. South Mumbai or Bombay as locals call it, is known as the Mumbai Art District. This is where art enthusiasts come to experience and absorb the city’s love for contemporary art woven with history.

by Sudershan Sharma & Saba Ali

The financial power that comes from its people and the rich history of the city has fuelled Mumbai’s art and architecture for decades. The City of Dreams Mumbai is where you ought to be if you want to immerse and lose yourself in this art movement.

We take you through some of its best-known galleries and museums that must be on your itinerary if you ever want to walk the art trail in the Maximum City.

A pioneer in exhibiting modern and contemporary art in India, the Chemould Prescott Road gallery is one of the oldest and most prestigious art galleries in Mumbai. Established in 1963 by Kekoo and Khorshed Gandhy, Chemould pioneered the careers of some of India’s most famous modernists, including S H Raza, Tyeb Mehta, Atul Dodiya, and Anuj Dodiya among others. But perhaps its most famous contributor was M F Husain. Its list of past artists is an inspiration to the art world's new generation of stars.

Over the last three and a half decades under Shireen Gandhy (Kekoo and Khorshed Gandhy’s daughter), Chemould has expanded its artist base to represent those who work with experimental media.

Housed in a vast loft-like space, Chemould showcases bigwigs like Shilpa Gupta, Atul Dodiya and Nalini Malani, on the one hand, and emerging artists like Dhruvi Acharya and Shezad Dawood, on the other.

Chemould also shares its art and artists with a larger worldwide audience through catalogues, artists' books, editions and monographs.

Perhaps the foremost cultural institution in India, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya or CSMVS was built in 1914 at the behest of Bombay’s elite at the time. They wanted to build a memorial to the visit of the Prince of Wales that would also represent India’s rich cultural heritage.

Architect Geroge Wittet designed the museum building after winning an open design competition. The Grade I Heritage Building has been designed in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture that combines Hindu and Saracenic architectural forms in its pillared hall, the arched pavilion and its imposing dome.

As for the art inside these hallowed walls, you can peep into the vast collection of philanthropist Jehangir KS Nicholson’s Indian art collection in the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation wing, or reach farther back in time through the miniature wing for an exquisite glimpse of Mughal courts.

Sir Cowasji Jehangir founded the Jehangir Art Gallery in 1952. Located in the Kala Ghoda locality of South Mumbai, it is one of the most prestigious modern art galleries in the city. Its four exhibition halls have played host to prominent Indian artists such as M F Hussain, Anjolie Ela Menon, A Ramachandran, S H Raza and K K Hebbar.

Apart from the exhibitions, the Jehangir Art Gallery is also an important venue for workshops, forums, and discussions on various aspects of art. That’s why it stands tall as a symbol for the promotion of contemporary Indian art.

Designed by architect Durga Bajpai, the mansion that houses Jehangir Art Gallery is one of the early concrete structures of the city. It has four halls - the Auditorium hall, the Exhibition Gallery, the Hirji Jehangir dr Bhau daji lad Museum

Gallery and the Terrace Art Gallery - that exhibit different mediums of art. The gallery is also the venue of the annual Kala Ghoda Arts Festival.

The oldest museum in Mumbai was established in the year 1855 by Lord Elphinstone. The museum boasts a Greco-Roman style of architecture. However, the simple and elegant exterior belies the exquisite interiors.

This impeccably restored Palladian structure is worth a peek in all its pastel and gold stucco, and stencil-worked glory that conjures up images of decadent colonial living. Some of the defining features of the building - the Corinthian capitals and columns - were imported from England. The coloured details, the intricately carved wood, the etched glass, and the gold gilding make it the foremost example of 19th-century architecture in India.

The Museum has an extensive education and outreach programme, which includes film, music, guided tours, children’s workshops and courses and lectures on the history of art.

Over the years, the museum has reached out to the contemporary art world, putting on avant-garde exhibitions by celebrated artists like Sudarshan Shetty and Sheba Chhachhi.

The ceramic section of the JJ School of Art was established in 1895 by its then-superintendent, who installed a kiln for students to experiment with clay.

Early ceramics produced at the school were inspired by Greek and Roman patterns. Local touches came in the form of patterns, drawings and colours from Indian art, including that in the Ajanta caves. Then came the Sind Pottery with its characteristic metal glaze.

Some of the most popular designs produced here include indigenous fruits and flowers painted in white on turquoise pots, mythological scenes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and unusual colours like dark green, gold and nude.

The department has followed the English ceramics tradition technically, while incorporating oriental designs and glazes. Today the department produces ceramic art work as well as ceramic utility ware.

In its own words, the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) helps people look at the works of modern art with greater joy, understanding and knowledge by experiencing them as vital expressions of the human spirit.

The Museum is housed in the auditorium once known as the Sir Cowasji Jehangir Public Hall. While previous generations might identify it with concerts, recitals and freedom rallies, for the current generation NGMA is home to some of the best contemporary art in the country.

The interior with its horseshoe-shaped balconies has a central stairway with semicircular galleries at different levels.

For its inauguration, the NGMA held an exhibition of the works of prominent sculptors like Debi Prasad Roy Chowdhury, Ramkinkar Baij, Sankho Chaudhuri, Dhanraj Bhagat and Sarbari Roy Chowdhury among others. Today, the gallery holds retrospectives on modern artists such as Pramod Ramteke, Bireswar Sen and Rini Dhumal.

Founded in 2006, Project 88 is located inside a 4000 square feet former metal printing press in Colaba, Mumbai.

Known for exhibiting cutting-edge, international artwork across media, Project 88 today focuses on showcasing avantgarde work by bold, young artists such as the Raqs Media Collective or the internationally acclaimed Otolith Group. Its repertoire of artists have earned it the reputation of being the go-to to understand the future of contemporary art in South Asia. v