As an image and brand building exercise, the Air India board wants to make use of art-work it owns, by gifting litho-prints of MF Husain, Anjolie Ela Menon and other famous painters to corporate houses even as it has commissioned a detailed evaluation of its entire art collection to ascertain its value.
The airline board which met last week decided to form a committee comprising Sarayu Doshi, former director of National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai; Tasneem Mehta, art historian and vice-chairman of INTACH, Mumbai; and Anjali Sen, former director of NGMA, New Delhi. They will advise, classify, catalogue and evaluate the works in three months. “The idea is to ascertain its monetary value and importance,” an airline board member said.
The national carrier has a vast collection of 4000-odd paintings and 1000-plus sculptures. This includes paintings and sculptures of artists between the 1950's and 1970's, which is when most of the art-works were acquired. Paintings include those of M F Husain (18 paintings), KH Ara, SH Raza and VS Gaitonde.
23/12/12 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror
