Art Gallery and Museum

The Art Gallery and Museum

The Art gallery and museum is the distinguished feature of the Tagore Library. The Art Gallery and Museum is located on the first floor of the Library. The Art Gallery has a collection of some excellent original paintings of eminent Indian painters such as Sri NandLal Bose, Sri Asit K. Haldar, and Sri L.M. Sen. Besides; it also has unique collection of art objects and sculptures.

History

In 1935, Late Mr. D.N. Bonerjee donated a valuable collection of some art exhibits, antiques and original paintings of Chugtai. This formed the nucleus for the establishment of the Art Gallery in the Library. Some rare paintings of Jaipur School were presented in 1947 by the son of Late Pt. KashiNath. This generous gift added to the value of library existing collection. Later, the Director General of Archaeology and the Curator, Curzen Museum, Mathura presented some casts of Indus Valley and eight stone sculptures of Mathura Art respectively. The art collection was further enriched considerably through the acquisition of twenty five giant size photographic enlargements of Indian historical monuments through the India Legation Office, Berne (Switzerland) in 1950. Prior to this, during the years 1940-45, Late Prof. Radha Kamal Mukherjee, the then Honorary Librarian of Tagore Library, Lucknow University donated a number of paintings of Indian artists and acquired art materials and paintings through purchase, as well as gift from the famous Indian artists. Years after, as Vice-Chancellor of this University, Prof. Radha Kamal Mukherjee continued his keen interest in the acquisition of paintings and art material and generously donated them to Library collection.

Exhibitions organised

The first Art Exhibition was organised in 1942. After the first exhibition, it took long years to organise the next exhibition. Hence, the material remained stacked in a room and for various reasons could not be displayed. After a long gap, the then Vice Chancellor, Shri A.K. Mustafy mooted the idea of establishing a permanent Art Gallery in the library and took keen personal interest in the venture. As a result, next exhibition was organised in the year 1975 during the regime of the then Honorary Librarian Prof. R.P. Agarwal. Some of the selected paintings of Shri Nand Lal Bose, Shri Chugtai, Shri L.M. Sen, Shri Asit Kumar Haldar, Shri Sudhir Ranjan Khastgir were put on display during the exhibition.

Present status

Again, for the last so many years, the art material remained stacked in a room and could not be displayed. In the year 2013, when Shri G. Patnayak was the Vice Chancellor of the Lucknow University, he took keen personal interest in the restoration of the Art Gallery. In his guidance, Tagore Library initiated the process of reorganising and maintaining the Art Gallery. The Library prepared a DPR for the restoration of the art objects and extension of the Art Gallery and submitted the same to the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India for financial assistance. The Ministry of Culture has been kind enough to sanction a grant of Rs.342.49 lakhs for the restoration work of the Art Gallery and Museum. Rs 131.99 lakh was released as first instalment. In the first phase, art objects and paintings have been restored by the INTACH, Lucknow. Library is planning to organise an art exhibition in near future.

Glimpses of some art objects and paintings

Manuscript- Section

Another distinguished feature of the Library is its Manuscript –section. This section is located on the first floor of Library. Manuscript-Section has about two thousand rare manuscripts. Most of these manuscripts are very rare and old. These manuscripts are in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, & Sanskrit language. Visitors from various places of India and abroad come here to consult the manuscripts for their research work.

Projects for conservation of manuscripts

As of now, two Projects have been prepared for the preservation of Manuscripts which were funded by National Archives of India, New Delhi.

Rs.One lakh was sanctioned for the first project.
Rs. Two lakhs were sanctioned for the second project.
Second project of Manuscripts completed in Dec. 2013.

Glimpses of some Manuscripts