The art of the matter

Seven ads and two rooms were all it took 75 years back To launch an idea that set the highest standards among art journals internationally Published from October 1946 the inaugural issue of Marg was wedged between World War II and Indiarsquos independencemdasha critically loaded focal phase in historyStruck by the spectacular friezes of the Ajanta caves litterateur Mulk Raj Anand conceived Marg with 14 other founding members These included Sri Lankan architect Minnette de Silva the German chief architect of Mysore State Otto Konigsberger collector and art advisor Karl Khandalavala architects MJP Mistri JPJ Billimoria and Andrew Boyd the distinguished first president of the Institute of Town Planners India Fayazuddin Sahib urban expert Percy JohnsonMarshall and art connoisseur Shareef Moloobhoy Each founder contributed R1000 and funding was fed by early subscribersMarg cofounders Mulk Raj Anand extreme right and Minnette de Silva centre with Pablo Picasso extreme left and American sculptor Jo Davidson with early issues of the magazine at the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defence of Peace in Wroclaw Poland 1948 PicWikimedia CommonsIts initial workspace was granted by JRD Tata who met Anand through scientist Homi Bhabha Listening at a luncheon to Anandrsquos eloquent ideals for the publication JRD asked how he might help The result The handful of advertisements and couple of rooms Anandrsquos Cuffe Parade apartment was the editorial hub In 1968 the magazine moved to its current location the Army and Navy BuildingMarg Modern Architectural Research Group was inspired by MARS Modern Architectural Research Group of Britain created in 1933 by modernist practitioners and writers including Francis Yorke John Betjeman Maxwell Fry and Wells Coates Spelt with a parallel serendipity the name also stands for the word marg meaning ldquopathrdquomdashpointing to the way of Indian civilizationDelegates of the Congress for Cultural Freedom at Chetana in 1951 First and second from left in the first row are the poet WH Auden and pacifist Salvadore da Madariaga second and third from right are writers Raja Rao and Sudhakar Dikshit who started Chetana Pic courtesyChhaya AryaPublishing itself was introduced by a stellar family of printers and editors whose sixgeneration passion for print stays steady with the bilingual JameJamshed weekly Three years after arriving in Bombay from Surat where he was born into a priestly clan Fardoonjee Marzbanjee opened a bookbinderrsquos shop in 1808 Pioneering vernacular journalism he was responsible for conceiving the printing press in 1812 and the production of Gujarati typefaces Fardoonjee most significantly established Asiarsquos oldest continuing periodical The Bombay Samachar on July 1 1822 A valuable template for subsequent Parsihelmed papers like the Indian Spectator eventually Voice of India the Samachar appeared weekly till 1832 biweekly till 1855 and daily since as Mumbai SamacharRuins of a cinema circa 1906 in Wadhwan the princely state whose Thakore imported the Cinematographe projector for his peoplersquos entertainment after seeing it at the Lumiere Brothersrsquo screening at Watsonrsquos Esplanade Hotel PicHemant ChaturvediIf Fardoonjee is the acknowledged Father of Gujarati printed literature his grandson Jehangirjee worked up from proofreader to partner at 1832established JameJamshed the ldquogoblet of Shah Jamshidrdquo in which the future was visibleThe ancestral press thrived under Jehangirjeersquos proprietorship Possessed of an easy wit the humourist hailed as ldquothe Mark Twain of the Parsisrdquo proved an influential newspaperman Prior to Jame he edited the Gujarati magazine NooreAlam besides managing three leading English dailies The Times of India The Advocate of India and The Bombay GazetteThose literary genes flourished further to produce a pair of brilliant playwrighteditorsmdashJehangirjeersquos son Pirojsha pen name Pijam and then his son Adi Marzban The Second World War shuffled several plans casting many on an offkilter course yet often signalling wonderful alternatives and initiatives Sheer chance heralded galleristcollector Kekoo Gandhyrsquos foray into art Though his father hoped he would join the Civil Services war broke out while Kekoo was in Bombay on vacation from Cambridge to which he could not return the following term Destiny deemed it fit for Gandhy to bump into a Belgian whose father framed and restored Flemish masters Roger Van Damme astutely assessed that India made the ideal market to sell frames having heard of the phalanx of images of gods and goddesses revered in Hindu homes The war caused a shortage of imported supplies of frame mouldings Van Dammersquos acquaintance of Gandhy blossomed to a business proposition He provided the knowhow for the 1940 factory manufacturing chemical mouldings With finance rustled up by Kekoo and his brother Russy the venture got christened Gallery Chemouldmdashshort for ldquochemical mouldingrdquo Art and science fused admirably at a larger institutional level thanks to Dr Bhau Daji Lad the physician and surgeon also elected the first Indian sheriff of Bombay Raised with public funds the structurally magnificent building with high interiors was thrown open on May 2 1872 in Byculla Not only did the Victoria and Albert Museum present an unusually embellished Palladian facade but it was adorned with exterior column capitals of terracotta for the first time in the city The edifice fronted botanical gardensmdashnaming the spot at which the zoo was Victoria Gardensmdashlaid in Renaissance Revival style The institution was renamed Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum in 1975 to honour the man whose dedication ensured its inception The good doctor credited with discovering Indian drugs as leprosy cures threw himself wholeheartedly into civic affairs Among them he commendably assumed the role of key fundraiser for the Victoria and Albert Museum A memorable Bombay evening brought the country an invention which veritably changed the discourse of entertainment and documentation Photographer and cinematographer Hemant Chaturvedi recently unravelled more about this on his journey filming the last remnants of singlescreen theatres across eleven states Nataraj Talkies from the 1920s in the princely walled town of Wadhwan in Saurashtra has been shut after the 2003 earthquake Its proprietor Bhawani Singh allowed Chaturvedi to shoot images before driving him around Halting at a stone wall they were riveted by the sight of an arched entrance and ldquobooking officerdquo of a nameless openair cinema circa 1906Apparently the Thakore of Wadhwan was at Watsonrsquos Esplanade Hotel in Bombay on the July 1896 day when the Lumiere Brothersrsquo Cinematographe projector debuted Spellbound by its possibilities with great foresight he ordered one By the time a fresh piece was manufactured and shipped from France it was 1906 What Chaturvedi looked at was the wooden ticket window remnants of the theatre the Thakore built to regale his people with silent moviesThe sagacity of visionary patrons gifted us multidisciplinary efflorescence A classictocontemporary centre doubling as the cityrsquos earliest art gallery was Chetana ldquoawakeningrdquo from 1946 Journalist Sudhakar Dikshit and writer Raja Rao converted this from Sri Vidya Samitirsquos Peacock Restaurant and the dance studio where Chetan and Uma Anand held drama classes Chetana sparked unique creative narratives Having met the Progressives here MF Husain declared ldquoAs you had the Bloomsbury Group in England itrsquos fair to call us the Chetana Group Chetana was the nucleus of cultural life not just in Bombay but all Indiardquo Chetana mirrored the mood of a citizenry receptive to intellectual rigour There was a hunger to hear local voices in an emerging young democracy This was where Damu Jhaveri sold tickets for Indian National Theatre productions Where MV Kamath happily sat editing copy in lieu of Chetana dosas and coffee Where customers welcomed a handlooms outlet and thali restaurant added to the centrersquos bookshop and chess tableldquoMy grandfather cultivated confidence in Indian talents showing selfesteem and individualityrdquo says Kavi Arya His mother Chhaya who powered Chetanarsquos evolution is Dikshitrsquos daughter Kavirsquos father was lensman Jitendra AryaAnother amazing extension of democratic socialism rallying around the arts as national integration came to be forerunner to the NCPA The Bhulabhai Desai Memorial Institute in the 1950s represented the true modern Under the stewardship of Soli Batlivala diehard Congressman turned cardcarrying communist the eponymous institute honoured the eminent jurist who bequeathed his wealth to this crucible of culture Batlivala was personal assistant to Bhulabhairsquos son Dhirajlal DhiruBombayrsquos artistic fervour lit up at 89 Warden Road Madhuriben Dhirubhairsquos archaeologist wife assigned Batlivala charge as trusteemanager of the unique institute on the estate comprising two bungalows set at an angle She lived in the roadfronting bungalow Hasman the Dubash residence today The other groundplusone Art Deco structure hummed with vibrant activity Piloo Pochkhanawala sculpted undisturbed for hours Husain sketched posters for performances like Medea Ebrahim Alkazi directed Greek tragedies on the terrace Gaitonde Raza Dashrath Patel and Tyeb Mehta were allotted balcony cubicles or studios for a rupee per daymdashthinly partitioned unlocked spaces shared within mutually agreed on timingsFrom 1963 Batlivala importantly supervised administration licensing and bookings at the Jehangir Art Gallery as honorary secretary It was his vital decision to lease the first floor to Kekoo Gandhy for Gallery Chemould He later offered Usha Rajbans Khanna the opportunity to run Samovar Cafe on its iconic little stripAs dance scholar Sunil Kothari said ldquoThe contribution of Soli Batlivala and the Bhulabhai Institute will go down in the history of Bombayrsquos art world in golden lettersrdquoAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiamiddaycomwwwmeher marfatiacom