MobileGIRI at National Gallery of Modern Arts, Delhi, India || A Visit to Exhibition - 'DAWN UPON DELHI'

Recently we planned to visit National Gallery of Modern Art for witnessing an outstanding exhibition of Delhi Photographs under name - 'DAWN UPON DELHI - The Rise of Capital' by Alkazi Foundation for the Arts ! This PHOTO JOURNEY share some view of National Gallery of Modern Arts, which is near to India Gate in Delhi ...

Since Photography inside the exhibition halls was not allowed, this PHOTO JOURNEY is mainly focus on outer part of the galley campus which is itself very big and well maintained. In fact, we were really impressed by looking at the interiors of Art Galleries and the place where ART-SHOP is located. Everything looks amazing and meets international standards.

Whole campus has an artistic feel and inside National Gallery of Modern Arts, we don't feel like being in Delhi... There are many such places in Delhi but this is again a wonderful place ! Most of the gardens of National Gallery of Modern Arts have various sculptures created by famous Indian Artists. Above photograph shows some of the sculptures lying in main garden of the Gallery, which is near to main entry gate.

The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) is the leading Indian art gallery. The main museum at New Delhi was established in 1954 by the Government of India, with subsequent branches at Mumbai and Bangalore. Its collection of more than 14,000 works includes artists such as Thomas Daniell, Raja Ravi Verma, Abanindranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Jamini Roy, Amrita Sher-Gil as well as foreign artists, apart from sculptures by various artists. Some of the oldest works preserved here date back to 1857.

National Gallery of Modern Arts is situated at the end of Rajpath, facing the India Gate, the building was a former residential palace of the Maharaja of Jaipur, hence known as 'Jaipur House'. It was designed by Sir Arthur Bloomfield, after the construction of Lutyens' Delhi, in 1936.

This was the Gallery hall where Exhibition of Old Delhi was going on and seriously, this was something very different for me. Huge prints of various British/king meetings, huge landscapes around Viceregal's residence which is President's House now. I have brought a small portfolio of some of the prints from this rare collection of Photographs and will try to share the scanned versions. Have a look at following link to know about this exhibition - http://ngmaindia.gov.in/pdf/dawn-upon-delhi.pdf

National Gallery of Modern Arts is not doubt a must go place for people who are interested in looking at exceptional art forms created by some of the known and unknown artists. At times, many of the old artists were not known till they left this earth and now such galleries have really explored those art-forms really well. Recently there is another exhibition going on, which is mainly on arts created by Ramkinkar Baij and collection is huge and it's hard to imagine the efforts he would have put in creating all those arts. Have a look at following to know briefly about it - http://ngmaindia.gov.in/pdf/Ramkinkar-Baij-E-Invite-option3.pdf

There were lot many other exhibitions going on, but it was difficult to see all the art-pieces in a day at National Gallery of Modern Arts. And the one about Delhi was the one which I could relate to and appreciate the most. It was really delighting to see old geography of Delhi and the way old Delhites used to live, shop and travel. There were some photographs showing various groups of Camel-carts parked around a huge ground near Jama Masjid. After reading the description of the photograph we got to know that people from neighboring regions used to come to Red Fort for some standard ceremonies by Britishers. They used to travel in Camel-Carts are all of them were parked in the ground near Jama Masjid. Of course, that ground can't be seen now :) ... I wish that same exhibition comes again in Delhi, so that I can better explore those amazing set of photographs showing Delhi in completely different form.

There is a very nominal ticket for Indian Visitors. Only 10 Rs. are charged for getting entry into these galleries. No Bags or Cameras are allowed inside, that's why you don't see any photograph from interiors of the Gallery. Whole campus has very strong security system and overall it has a peaceful environment.

National Gallery was formally inaugurated by Vice-president Dr S.Radhakrishnan in 1954, in the presence of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Hermann Goetz who was a noted German art historian became its first curator and in time it added new facilities such as Art restoration services, a Art reference Library and a Documentation Centre.

Two huge banners hanging around main building of National Gallery of Modern Arts. These two banners are mainly about the two Exhibitions going on at the galleries. - 'DAWN UPON DELHI' and  Ramkinkar Baij's A Retrospective.

Then in 2009, a new wing of the National Gallery of Modern Art was inaugurated adding almost six times the space to the existing gallery, plus it has a new auditorium, a preview theatre, conservation laboratory, library and academic section as well as a cafeteria and museum shop.

This wonderful sculpture was in open garden of National Gallery of Modern Arts. There was a time, when it was difficult for me to appreciate any of the sculpture, but now at least I understand some of them and there are few which are still out of my understanding. This one had really amazing details and we could very well imagine the hard work required to make these with lively expressions on subject we try to create. Detailing in most of these were really amazing. There were some abstract Sculptures which needs a different eye to appreciate.

This was board under this huge Sculpture at National Gallery of Modern Arts. 'TRIUMPH OF LABOUR' by D. P. Roy Choudhary !

'Jaipur House' is carved on the main building of National Gallery of Modern Arts in Delhi.

Here is a photograph of backyard in National Gallery of Modern Arts. As of now, I am not very familiar with the space and hope to share more detailed information after few visit to NGMA.

Overall it was unexpectedly wonderful experience to visit National Gallery of Modern Arts. A Day well spent and hope to plan few more visits to spend enough time around such wonderful arts and try to understand their importance to better appreciate them.