Earlier this month, Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray released a book and inaugurated an exhibition at the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum to mark the 150th anniversary of its establishment in Byculla. The book “Mumbai – A City Through Objects” compiles 101 objects and stories from the museum’s collection.
Written by museum staff and Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, its Honorary Director and Managing Trustee, the book is co-published with Harper Designs. Mehta spoke to Banita Fernando about the museum’s relationship to Mumbai and the importance of museums in contemporary India. Part:
The book alludes to the museum’s association with Mumbai since its inception. Can you tell us more about this?
It was a museum to showcase Bombay – present day Mumbai. The Presidency was important, but it was really about the city. It was the engine running the whole country. Everything went away and Bombay came. The museum was meant to present these products of trade – pottery, ornamental crafts, building materials, minerals, seeds, plants, medicinal herbs and tea.
Bombay merchants came together to fund the museum because the colonial authorities were stingy. However, in the end, the Municipal Corporation borne 50 per cent of the cost as the building was stuck due to paucity of funds.
How is the museum redefining its connection to Mumbai?
let me go back to the time model [of professions, ethnicities and religions] The Great Exhibition of 1851 and the subsequent performances became very popular. Therefore, in the early 20th century the museum’s curators decided to focus on the city through its people represented by these miniature sculptures. The architecture of the museum is classical but the material is contemporary with that time. The items presented innovation in design and form to suit new tastes.
During the independence movement, the focus was on classical culture and it was centered on the city… So yes, I am redefining the museum’s association with the city by focusing on urban contemporary culture through innovative exhibitions Am. We focus on how great we were in the past, but what about today?
The dioramas and models are among the highlights of the museum and the book dedicates an entire section to them as “the people of India”. What is their importance?
No other museum has such an extensive collection of the people of the city. These are not small toys, but sculptures made by master sculptors. The British did not use the word ‘sculptor’ as they did not want to honor the craftsmen with this word. They called him a ‘modeller’.
George Birdwood, the museum’s first curator, did not think that Indians were capable of sculpture or fine arts. They thought they were good craftsmen who can execute what they have been given but have not been able to achieve anything beyond replication except a minor innovation in design. He thought that Indians did not have the necessary intelligence to make a Michelangelo level sculpture.
Shiv Prasad Balsing, a dedicated sculptor from Lucknow, made these models in Bombay. He created them by referencing photography as well as prints and paintings by earlier artists. So here’s an interesting art historical trajectory. The facial expressions of models and photographs are almost accurate.
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The book reflects the pluralism inherent in the museum collection, from the portrait of Emperor Jahangir on the hunt (1927–28) to the statue of Mumbadevi (2009). How important are museum collections today?
What is happening now is the standardization of culture. A lot of history is being erased, rewritten and re-referenced, and the interpretation is not supported by fact or research. Which we have taken care of in this book. It’s intense archival research until we ended up rock bottom in our own archives, and then we explored other museums and libraries in India, the UK, and the US.
The book begins with the creation of Bombay through maps, sketches and monuments. What is their importance?
The museum has a beautiful and extraordinary collection of maps, some of which are in the book. The relief map of Heptanesia between 1700 and 1800 is one such example. A silver replica of it was gifted to King George V and Queen Mary when they visited in 1911. We are planning an exhibition of the city’s architecture and urban development, where more of these maps will be shown.