On 2nd December 2023, we invited visitors curious about Indian traditional art to our archive. In a show-and-tell session, we introduced them to some ancient storytelling artforms, from the Sarmaya collection. For this session, we explored Mithila, Pattachitra, Mata-ni-Pachedi and Tholu Bommalaata. Some of the prominent works that we presented belonged to renowned artists like… Read more »
Conversations on the repatriation of museum objects continue to evolve and encounter new complexities
Discovering the portraiture of four Modern artists from the Sarmaya collection — F.N. Souza, Laxma Goud, Dhruvi Acharya and Alexander Gorlizki
This map titled ‘India (northern Part)’ highlights the northern divisions of territory into presidencies and native states. The Bengal Presidency is marked in red including the lieutenant-governorships of the North-West provinces, Oudh, Punjab and Central Provinces; Bombay Presidency is marked in green, Madras in Yellow and native states in orange. After significant territorial acquisitions were… Read more »
The Sarmaya team has worked with Pratham to develop digital resources focusing on art forms in India. We are very excited to create a series of learning resources that are educational and entertaining, and inspired by the art forms we have in our collection. We decided to begin with indigenous or folk art. As living traditions,… Read more »
The journey of botanical art in India, from 1500s to today—accompanied by luscious botanical art from the Sarmaya collection
A rare book from our collection, ‘Indian Botany’ by Dr Robert Wight combines scientific survey with outstanding illustrations by artists we will never know. Our interview with Dr Henry Noltie throws new light on them
A new show at the Wallace Collection in London, Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company, curated by historian William Dalrymple showcases 110 paintings that throw light on little known Indian artists of the late 18th and 19th centuries.
At the time when the declaration could cost an Indian man dearly, a young gay chartered accountant from Mumbai found a safe space in art
Spirituality, sensuality and everything in between—what animals represent in a select few of Sarmaya’s contemporary art works
A brief history of how Hindu temples took root and flourished in India
Exploring the magnificent, mammoth traditions of Indian ‘miniatures’
While a new nation was finding its feet in 1947, a small group of artists was formulating its visual language. Meet the Bombay Progressives in the Sarmaya collection
Acclaimed Carnatic musician TM Krishna dissects the unfair structures that constrain Indian art in his new book
A third-generation ‘Bombay-Tamil’ narrates a personal history of Dharavi’s leather industry and its vanished ‘tholwadis’
“These courtesans were artists who were carriers of the nation’s enormous history, creating cultural movements by their strokes and the turnings of their wrists. At the core of the institutionals values of courtesans lay a deeper, divine purpose of uplifting the mundane world of mortals, allowing them to envision the bigger picture.” Madhur Gupta on… Read more »
The paintings of B Prabha capture the hopes and anguish of a woman making art in a newly independent India
An exquisite collection of 19th-century botanical art that focuses on common-but-beautiful Indian flowers
Take our quiz to learn something new about the real Sher Khan
The Ranji Trophy, India’s first-class cricket series, is named for Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji II, the charismatic ruler of the princely state of Nawanagar