Scholar collector

BUSINESS CLASS/Ebrahim Alkazi's approach to art has enriched the world

Roshan and Ebrahim Alkazi are nothing short of living legends. The Delhi-based couple have probably done more for Indian art than any of their contemporaries.

Each year, the art community in Delhi, eagerly awaits breathtaking exhibitions of fine works from the private collection of these visionaries.

'Masterworks from the Alkazi collection' has now become an annual feature on the Delhi cultural map. Some exhibitions such as Souza's retrospective and a photography exhibition of 'Crowning the Delhi Darbar' continue to remain fresh in our memory.

Unlike today's collectors who collect with their ears and not with their eyes, the Alkazi's approach to collecting is amazingly methodical, scholarly and academic, to say the least.

Recently, the Alkazis' showed mid-career works of Manu Parekh, sculptor Tiku, an unknown Ashok Tiwari and the recently controversial Chittravanu Majumdar at Sridharani Art Gallery.

Ebrahim Alkazi might be known to many as a theatre director and the former head of the National School of Drama.

But dealers on Portobello Road in London know him as one of the first and largest collectors of Indian colonial photography.

Others might be familiar with his gallery 'Art Heritage', the tour de force of contemporary Indian art in the pre-Vadhera days. Indeed, Alkazi's virtuosity makes it impossible to pin him down merely as a dealer or even a collector.

This renaissance man is a combination of a collector, academician, aesthete, theatre personality, documenter and a curator who has successfully dealt in art to build up an unparalleled body of work that is most certainly the most valuable collection of its kind in private hands.

The Alkazis', through their gallery Art Heritage, have shown some of India's finest artists and are credited for giving today's blue chips like Arpita Singh, their first solo shows.

The Alkazis' offer to purchase works they showed throughout the 70's and 80's at a 40% discount was welcomed by the art community and helped sustain the careers of various artists when the art market was virtually non-existent.

There is no doubt that Ebrahim Alkazi has shown the artists of his generation "� the Progressives "� better than anyone. Alkazi can also be credited with his seriousness in understanding artists much younger than himself and constantly finding the stars of tomorrow.

Unlike the Herwitzs, the Alkazis bought art across media: sculpture, prints and photographs form an integral part of their collection as do paintings and works on paper.

To this day, Ebrahim Alkazi continues to share his treasures with society, passionately collecting paintings, sculptures, prints, photographs, books, manuscripts, etchings, colonial aquatints and even copyrights in vast proportions.

What Alkazi will be most remembered for, apart from his unparalleled vision, is his penchant for contextualizing and dispersing knowledge to the public at large.

The retrospective of Souza, for instance, from his own collection held in Delhi some five years ago, will probably go down as the finest show curated in the 90s.

Other retrospectives of artists such as Somnath Hore and Anupam Sud have helped us reinterpret their works in the current social context. The show changed the way we looked at Souza forever, putting him notches above any of his contemporaries.

Alkazi's approach to documentation, curating and conservation has enriched our lives and to this day his energy remains a source of inspiration for most collectors.