Single Artist Museums

MANDIRA ROW

RESIDENT CURATOR Amar Nath Sehgal Private Collection

A rarity as it is, the single artist museum concept has been undervalued for its contribution to preserve artistic heritage. To define the purpose of the single artist museums, it is a focus driven space where one understands the art better once you learn about its maker. The concept rarely allows you to boast or enhance the artist’s work but is confined to being a mere mirror of their delivery. Their artistic vision, profound individual insight that transcend time is displayed and studied to understand their significance. Our vision and even our future is dictated by the artist’s identity.

Converting the studio space of the artist, which was the temple to his creative mind, has given us the advantage of representing his personal sanctuary. It housed his most intimate moments with himself and his work. J23 in Jungpura saw some of the bravest trials of his creative endevours as well as his lowest moments of self-doubt and failure. If anything, the truest relationship he had with his work was in his studio.

Sehgal was an inventor, a creator who truly enjoyed the making of his work. Sculpture requires immense patience and time as well as a hunger to demonstrate oneself in their purest form. If an artist does not fall in love with the process of creating, he will never be able to succeed in making the art he is destined for. Catharsis for Sehgal came in the making of his pieces, more specifically, his bronze works. He was meticulous and deeply focused in his craftsmanship.

The Single Artist Museum concept allows one to delve into the artist’s soul through a carefully curated collection that brings together a comprehensive view of Sehgal’s oeuvre, providing insights into his creative evolution, influences, and recurring themes. The thematic arrangement, correspondence, and range of sketches offer visitors an intimate look into Sehgal's thought process, creative struggles, and achievements.

They [Archives] are filled with writing, some, of apologies for not being the person he was asked to be and some where he is truly admired and congratulated. As an artist, he felt deeply misunderstood, for when he created, he had admitted his lack of guilt for being true to himself. The thousands of photographs of his sculptures narrate his unrequited desire for the arts, as a struggling artist. Over time, he was pressured to really become famous, for the sake of his own art. And maybe, the experimentation of various mediums narrates his quest to finally, arrive. He was in a hurry to prove himself. Everyone was. It was after all, the time of the birth of an independent nation.

There are documents that he collected of his travels. He was fearless and bold and dutiful to his art. Most importantly, the art that he created not for the public spectator, but for his personal conversation with himself has revealed sides of him that many didn’t have the luxury to uncover.

With history comes stories. There are those who have stories of glory, a few of failure, and most, no stories at all. It is widely said that history is written by the survivors. In his case, he wrote his story that allows us to define it. The irony is that artists have been better understood after their time and celebrated much later. Maybe it is because there is a part of their soul that resides in the forms that have been left, some in despair, but most to become the culture we strive to protect in these temples. Its left up to us to stitch these stories to protect our culture.

The museum space offers a comprehensive representation of the oeuvre of an artist’s work from his early explorations to the critiqued masterpieces. Although I do feel it does injustice to call this a museum. It is more than just presentation, documentation or promotion. It seems suffocating almost to consider how limiting it is once we categorize the nucleus of a creative mind. This space, it’s an education, a moral obligation towards cultural enrichment in the most unique way. While museums offer us a plethora of artfrom a multitude of artists, a single artist museum is dedicated to understanding the artistic spectrum of a single artist.

While this museum started out as an experiment, with one goal only, today we promise the conservation of a legacy, of the artist of course, but more of the science of archiving and ensuring that an artist’s contributions to art history are not forgotten. We as many others, play a vital role in developing a culture of personal storytelling through art and archives.

The promotion of a singular artistic dialogue, such as Sehgal, stimulates conversations of rethinking museology in its classical sense. Appreciating an oeuvre and provide in-depth study for students of art for a single artist comes at the cost of challenging ourselves of creating a varied path. There are no two artists who share the same trajectory for us, which allows us to marvel and learn from one another. With more single artist museums, we would be able to draw comparisons in fine detail, which can only benefit the artists of tomorrow. We will be able to decipher from the various artistic languages and seriously compare their ventures of individuality and creativity and challenge perspectives.

Unfortunately, an artist is remembered for a handful of works, barely revealing a lifetime of work that went into creating their style that led them here. In a museum like ours we allow ourselves to fully understand their creations by fully accepting their most inner self. Moreover, the museum engages with the community through exhibitions, workshops, and discussions, fostering an appreciation of Sehgal's work while contextualising his relevance in contemporary society.

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