With Art Mumbai, the city gets its own art fair

Though Mumbai is home to noted galleries, which regularly organize contemporary art weeks, it is only now that it is getting its first art fair

- Riddhi Doshi

Mumbai has an unassailable link with the arts. This is where one of India’s oldest art schools, the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy School of Art, or the Sir J.J. School of Art as it is popularly known, was founded in 1857. The Indian Institute of Architects, founded in 1929, laid the groundwork for Mumbai’s Art Deco buildings at the ‘The Ideal Home’ fair in 1937. The city also bore witness to a pivotal moment in Indian art history when the Progressive Artists’ Group came together to create a new vocabulary of Indian modernism.

Though Mumbai is home to noted galleries, which regularly organise contemporary art weeks, it is only now that it is getting its first prominent art fair. Titled, Art Mumbai, it will be held from 16-19 November at the Mahalaxmi Race Course. The event has been envisioned by Minal and Dinesh Vazirani of Saffronart, Conor Macklin, director, Grosvenor Gallery, London, and Nakul Dev Chawla of the Chawla Art Gallery, New Delhi.

The four-day event will see participation of 53 galleries from different cities of India, the Middle East, London and New York. Art enthusiasts will get to see the length and breadth of Indian art, from the works of modern masters such as M.F. Husain and Amrita Sher-Gil to mammoth installations by the likes of Paresh Maity.

Besides showcasing the different facets of the art ecosystem, Art Mumbai will include a host of events such as heritage walks to Koliwada, dinners at art collectors’ homes, a discussion on Indian cinema and culture with Karan Johar, and walk-throughs at the sculpture garden.