Creating a Legacy

A private museum in Jaipur has just opened its doors to the public. Called Gyan Museum, it was conceptualised as a tribute to avid collector Gyan Chand Dhaddha by his sons Suresh Dhaddha and Arun Dhaddha and showcases timeless pieces and a rich family legacy.

- Sneha Mahale

It was some time in the 1920s when Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney approached New York’s famous Metropolitan Museum of Art and offered to donate her extensive collection of American artworks. The offer was declined. So, the sculptor and art patron set up her own museum, The Whitney, whose focus, to date, remains American art and artists. Soon, Solomon R Guggenheim followed suit when, in the 1930s, he likewise introduced the American public to the works of Wassily Kandinsky and Rudolf Bauer through his private collection.

Slowly, over time, what was thought to be a groundbreaking idea became a trend. According to the 2013 BMW Art Guide, 25 private collections were established as museums in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. Another 25 were established in the 1990s, and a whopping 167 were founded between 2000 and 2013. Even today, private collections of Broad, Rubell, Haubrok, Boros, Brant and Fisher draw enthusiasts from across the globe.

Closer home, however, it is rare for artworks and family heirlooms to make their way out of residences and summer homes and into collections that are open to the public. But it is certainly not unheard of. Jaipur’s Gyan Museum, for example, was set up as a tribute to the late Gyan Chand Dhaddha—he was a naturalist, collector and gemologist—by his sons Suresh Dhaddha and Arun Dhaddha.