Ebrahim Alkazi Directing Art - The Making of a Modern Indian Art World  (English, Hardcover, unknown)

A doyen of India’s art and theatre scenes,Ebrahim Alkazi has been credited with garnering worldwide visibility for Indian art. Ebrahim Alkazi:Directing Art acknowledges Alkazi’s lifelongcommitment to modern and contemporary artin India through his establishment of Art Heritagegallery and an art journal in New Delhi. Drawingfrom his experience as the first Director of theNational School of Drama, how does he arriveat innovative modes of curating modern art andenvisaging the public? Realizing quite early inhis career that art writing was germane to artreception, Alkazi edited a journal for four decadesfrom 1977 onwards; its early years coinciding withthe politically tumultuous period of the Emergency. Featuring essays by and conversations with leadingpractitioners and art historians, Directing Art placesAlkazi’s contribution within a historical as well ascritical context. While Amal Allana reveals Alkazi’stwin passion for modern theatre and art through afamilial narrative, YashodharaDalmia underlines hiscontribution to the public reception for modern art.Focusing on Bombay, Shukla Sawant looks beyondthe English speaking elite audience, towards thevernacular one which continued to underpinAlkazi’s understanding of the community at large.Devika Singh revisits the post-IndependenceIndian art scene to contextualize the emergence ofArt Heritage and AkanshaRastogi explores thehistory of art exhibitions curated by Alkazi throughthe trope of a ‘ghost’ exhibition. FollowingParul Dave-Mukherji’s revealing interview witheminent artist and Alkazi’s long-standing friend,K.G. Subramanyam, in conclusion, Partha Mitterreflects on the latter’s role as an art patron. Richly illustrated with select artworks from theAlkazi Collection, this volume is the first of agrowing series and provides a critical contextfor the publication of art writings and exhibitionsshown at Art Heritage. A chronicle of theremarkable life and work of Ebrahim Alkazi,Directing Art hence provides an invaluableeducation in Indian art through its contextualanalysis of the modern and contemporary. This is the inauguralvolume of a series of six publications.Subsequent volumes will include select reprintsfrom the Art Heritage journals and cataloguesthat accompanied exhibitions over a periodspanning nearly four decades, from 1977 onwards.