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Research on art history comes of age

Mandira Nayar

NEW DELHI: The National Gallery of Modern Art here will soon not be the only place to see the vast canvas of contemporary art in the Capital. Though Jamia Millia Islamia is not venturing into the arena of acquiring "real" art, its Department of Fine Arts and Art Education is planning to start a National Resource Centre for Art that will give visitors and scholars a chance to understand the contribution of various artists in post-Independence India.

The Centre -- planned as a one-stop destination for scholars -- will be developed by students enrolled for a new Masters level programme on History of Art, which will be introduced by the Department of Fine Arts and Art Education next year.

"We don't have a budget to acquire paintings,'' says Mohammad Miyan, Head of the Department of Fine Arts at Jamia. "But we will electronically preserve paintings. We also hope to be able to get the writing on art. This resource centre will be able to give visitors an idea of how M.F. Husain contributed to contemporary art and what the art scene was before his arrival.''

Becoming one of the first few universities in the country to look at art and its history so seriously and to build a resource centre, Jamia will not only concentrate on Indian art but also look at paintings electronically around the world.

The idea is to fill in the gap on the art scene that exists in India in terms of research and documentation. While documentation of art in India is being done by various stakeholders, the research element in a comprehensive way has been missing. And with Indian art finally being recognised on international platforms, the Centre will come at the right time as it were.

"We have already started writing to people asking them for permission. We have also appointed two well-known names in the art world as Professors Emeritus,'' says Professor Miyan.

The History of Art will look at the evolution of the modern movement of art in India. The course is expected to encourage research in this field. The idea is also to record the contribution of artists who are not so well known and students will be expected to conduct research on them as part of the course to build the Centre.

Offering printmaking as a specialisation for the first time, the Department will introduce the course from next year. This course will be designed to cover all areas of printmaking, lithography, woodcut, etching and silk-screen printing.

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