Reliance Foundation pledges landmark gift to Met for Indian art

visionsart — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 18:48:52 +0000

Copyrighted image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

NEW YORK – The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced that the Reliance Foundation, the Indian philanthropic organization founded by Nita and Mukesh Ambani, has promised a generous gift to support exhibitions that explore and celebrate the arts of India.

“This is an outstanding commitment that will have a direct impact on The Met and the exhibitions it presents to its millions of annual visitors,” said Daniel H. Weiss, President and CEO of the Museum. “As a global institution, we are devoted to studying and displaying art from every corner of the world, and this is made possible only through the generosity of our friends. Nita and Mukesh Ambani are truly visionary benefactors, and we are enormously grateful for this meaningful gift.”

The gift will support a range of exhibitions examining the accomplishments and influence of the arts and artists of India across time and in all media. The first exhibition to benefit from this gift is this fall’s Modernism on the Ganges: Raghubir Singh Photographs, opening at The Met Breuer on October 11, 2017. A retrospective of the pioneering artist, it will present his work from the late 1960s through his last unpublished projects of the late 1990s. Other exhibitions that will benefit from this sponsorship will cover such topics as early Buddhist artfrom the first century B.C. to the fourth century A.D., 17th-century Mughal art, and contemporary Indian sculpture. More details about these exhibitions will be provided as their opening dates are confirmed.

Nita and Mukesh Ambani are great champions of The Met. In 2016, Mr. and Mrs. Ambani and the Reliance Foundation supported the exhibition Nasreen Mohamedi, the first museum retrospective of the artist’s work in the United States that was also one of The Met Breuer’s inaugural exhibitions when it opened that spring. With this new gift, Mr. and Mrs. Ambani and the Reliance Foundation will in time have sponsored three important Indian exhibitions at The Met Breuer—along with two at The Met Fifth Avenue—allowing their Indian culture and heritage to be shared with the millions who visit The Met from all over the world. Their generosity will be recognized in The Met Breuer, among other leadership donors to The Met’s important initiative to showcase a global representation of modern and contemporary artistic practice.

In 2017 the Museum honored Mrs. Ambani at The Met Winter Party, an event celebrating the achievements of those who foster greater diversity and inclusion in the world of art. Generous with her time and expertise, Mrs. Ambani is also a member of The Met’s new International Council.

“India has a rich heritage of art and culture that can be traced back to the fourth century B.C. At Reliance Foundation, it has been our ongoing mission to recognize and promote this valuable tradition by offering opportunities and platforms for Indian art locally in India and at various institutions around the globe. This partnership with The Met enables Indian art to be shown at an iconic institution and further encourages us to continue our work in the art world. We are truly delighted to be part of this long-term collaboration. We believe this will prove to be a wonderful partnership for learning and sharing that will go a long way for art in India,” said Nita Ambani, Founder, and Chairperson of Reliance Foundation.

Online: www.metmuseum.org

Source : https://www.liveauctioneers.com/news/top-news/museums/reliance-foundation-pledges-landmark-gift-met-indian-art/

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India’s Richest Woman Nita Ambani Eyes The Art World

visionsart — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 05:46:00 +0000

Metropolitan Museum of Art Director Sheena Wagstaff with Reliance Foundation chairperson Nita Ambani

(Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

India’s richest woman with a $20 billion family fortune and a 27-story sky palace in India’s south Mumbai, billed as the world’s most expensive home for its $1 billion estimated cost – Nita Ambani is now eyeing the art world. Her new interest is the conservation of Indian art forms and making them more widely known internationally. Recently her Reliance Foundation sponsored an exhibition of traditional Indian pichwai paintings of Shrinathji, the Ambani family deity, at the Art Institute of Chicago. She’s also the biggest funder of the new Met Breuer’s debut show of modernist drawings by Nasreen Mohamedi, the first museum retrospective of the artist’s work in the U.S. Nasreen’s exhibition ‘Waiting Is a Part of Intense Living’ made its debut at the Reina Sofia Museum in Spain this past September.

During an interview Nita says that she is planning a museum of her own in India with an exhibition space for traveling art shows to be housed in a massive convention centre that she’s building on a 19-acre plot close to her Mumbai school. To be opened in 2018, it will include exhibition areas, a 2,000-seat theatre, retail spaces, offices and residences.

Reliance is India’s largest private company, founded by Mr. Mukesh Ambani’s father Dhirubhai Ambani. Mukesh Ambani recently announced his foray into Reliance Jio with an investment of Rupees 1.5 trillion.

Talking about her interest in the world of art, Nita says, “When I set up the Reliance Foundation in 2010, I was keen that it promotes and nurture India’s ancient heritage in a holistic way. When the people from the Art Institute came to see me, I saw an opportunity to showcase our culture to a global audience.” Madhuvanti Ghose, the Art Institute’s curator of Indian art, says, “The speed at which the Ambanis work; no one else can surpass them. As for Ms. Ambani art is a new door for her, but now that she’s walked through, she sees how desperately we need her.”

Indian collectors have already ascended the upper ranks in the world of art. Hotelier Anupam Poddar and Kiran Nadar, the wife of HCL Technologies’ founder, Shiv Nadar have opened private museums for their contemporary art collections in the greater New Delhi.

Madhuvanti says, “Nita sits at the top of India’s wealthiest families, a tastemaker whose travels and causes are closely followed in Mumbai and elsewhere. Until now, she was best known for promoting health and education initiatives—as well as cheering on her husband’s cricket team and soccer league—but her artistic interests, besides dance, have long been something of a mystery.”

Nita’s love for art and sculptures reflects at her Mumbai mansion. Nita says she has slowly added modern and contemporary artworks, nearly all Indian, from earthy abstracts by M.F. Husain to the gold orb sculpture by Anish Kapoor that hangs in her living room. She recently commissioned Subodh Gupta to create a 9-foot-long installation using metal and brass cooking vessels to create a map of Mumbai.

According to a recent Forbes report Nita has been named the most powerful businesswoman in Asia by Forbes, leading a list of 50 women leaders from the region that includes eight from India.

Source – http://www.blouinartinfo.com/

The post India’s Richest Woman Nita Ambani Eyes The Art World first appeared on Indian Art News.

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Reliance Foundation pledges landmark gift to Met for Indian art

India’s Richest Woman Nita Ambani Eyes The Art World