Founder Pheroza J Godrej looks back at the time senior artists from Bombay supported a 23-year-old’s vision to make art available for all
Pheroza J Godrej. Pic/Suresh Karkera
The rain has refused to abate on the day we meet art historian, collector and nature conservationist Pheroza J Godrej. Her office at Godrej Bhavan in Fort is
noiseless, devoid of staff, barring one. The only company we otherwise have are the crows, perched on the ledge, taking shelter from the relentless showers outside.
“It looks like they are having a meeting,” she quips.
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It’s been a gruelling one year for the art world, she admits. Barely any physical exhibitions and shows due to the pandemic. “I think I shrunk a little bit, too [during this time],” she jokes, as she sits down for the photo shoot.
The last few months of the lockdown, however, have kept her busy. Godrej is just a few weeks shy of celebrating the golden jubilee of Cymroza Art Gallery, which she established in October 1971 as a 23-year-old. “Now there, I am giving away my age,” she laughs.
(From left) Pheroza Godrej, Jehangir Sabavala at the exhibition by Balbir Singh Katt and Latika Katt at Cymroza Art Gallery, 1983
Fifty years ago, when Godrej launched Cymroza in Breach Candy, she remembers there being fewer platforms for up and coming artists. “We had Jehangir Art Gallery, which was the most iconic gallery that most artists went to. Then, there was the Artists Centre, Chetana, and two other prominent commercial galleries—Gallery Chemould, which was an extension of a framing shop, and Pundole, which was a watch shop. The most expensive and exclusive was the Taj Art Gallery. This well-appointed gallery was in the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel Heritage Wing,” she recalls, as she settles on the chair in her cabin.
For many young artists, the struggle was real. The Sir JJ School of Art did an annual show, but it was institutional. There were many who were either pursuing academic interests or had full-time jobs, and were doing their diplomas from parallel organisations affiliated to the art school, which had classes mostly in the evening. Where would they go? “It was always the question of chicken and egg. Everywhere you went, they [the gallerists] would say, ‘you must have your first show and then come to us’. But who was going to give us fledgling artists that break?” asks Godrej, adding, “I felt that there should be a space for people like me, younger artists, who had just graduated from the art school.”
Though she did get to showcase her work at Chetana, she was determined to open her own gallery, and soon. “I was blessed that I had enlightened parents, who gave me that opportunity. They had this space [in Breach Candy, Bhulabhai Desai Road]. We cleaned it up, painted it, and put in air-conditioners. We had the best lighting in town at that time, because it was a new gallery, and we could do what was relevant for 1971.”
Pheroza P Shroff with Vice-Admiral Soman, the first Executive Director of NID at the inauguration of the Cymroza Art Gallery, October 1971. Pics courtesy/Cymroza Series, PJG Collection, Godrej Archives
For a woman in her 20s, who was just about starting out, she admits that “it was very difficult [to be taken seriously]”. “But, I use this word ‘passion’, and I don’t use it lightly. I really had studied my subject. I knew where the pitfalls were. I was determined to succeed. And I never ever thought that if it doesn’t work, I would shut it down. In fact, that thought had never even occurred to me. I think it was the effervescence and idealism of youth,” adds Godrej (née Shroff).
As the gallery prepared to open, Godrej recalls personally visiting every senior artist in town. “I reverently told them [senior artists] I am having this show, this is my background, this is what I am going to do, and I’d be happy if you can loan one painting. I will collect it and return it. They asked, ‘Aren’t you going to sell’. I said, ‘Gosh if I could sell, I would be the happiest person, and I would make you a very happy person as well’. Everybody contributed to this proposal spontaneously,” she says.
Cymroza Art Gallery opened on October 20, 1971. Among those who showcased their artworks were Narayan Shridhar Bendre, Kattingeri Krishna Hebbar, Pilloo Pochkhanawala, Adi Davierwala and Jehangir Sabavala. “We were actually supposed to open on August 15, 1971, but Pilloo [veteran sculptor artist] said you can’t have a contemporary, youthful gallery with a letterhead that looks like it’s straight out of [Geoffrey] Chaucer’s English. She was insistent that we design a logo that represented the modern image. So, we had to design a logo. It was worth the delay, because we haven’t changed it in the last 50 years.”
Since then, the gallery has hosted a multitude of events that haven’t been restricted to art exhibits alone.
“We have had Zakir Hussain play here, and even Malavika Khanna Sangghvi recite her original poetry, and have had so many craft shows,” shares Godrej. “People grew up with us. Manjit Bawa, who never had a show in Bombay, first showcased here at the age of 40; Rekha Rodwittiya, identified by [Ebrahim] Alkazi in Delhi and supported greatly by him, commenced her first show with us, so did Arpita Singh, Arpana Caur, Gogi Saroj Pal among others.”
To mark the Cymroza@50 anniversary, a set of exhibitions will be hosted across three venues: Cymroza, Pundole’s, and Chatterjee & Lal, all of which will open simultaneously on September 1. Thematically, the contents of each exhibition have been designed to complement each other. The Cymroza Chronicles will place rare works and archival ephemera on display at Cymroza, providing an insight into the gallery’s formative years and exhibition history, as well as Godrej’s own journey in art. At Pundole’s, Ranjit Hoskote will curate a major survey exhibition, Mapping the Lost Spectrum, incorporating highlights from the collection of Jamshyd and Pheroza Godrej. At Chatterjee & Lal, Nancy Adajania will curate The Unpaved, Crusty, Earthy Road, the first retrospective of the important fibre artist Nelly Sethna, an artist who was championed by Godrej.
“Ranjit, Nancy and I have been talking about this for a long time now. The actual work started around five years ago; I began with restoring all the artworks directly under my supervision, followed by the documentation process,” says Godrej, who is also chairperson of the Godrej Archives Council. “Mine was quite an unwieldy collection. When I started collecting, I didn’t think that I was only going to collect the work of a particular artist, period or school of painting. To put it all together, a lot of thought had to go into it. I took the help of [gallerist Mortimer] Chatterjee.”
Since 2000, her association with other museums and art committees—she was chairperson of the Advisory Committee of the National Gallery of Modern Art and Museum Society of Bombay, and was involved in the restoration work at Bhau Daji Lad Museum—has made her take a backseat with work at the gallery. “This took all my time. But, I have continued to handhold my team,” she says.
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