Written by Vandana Kalra |Updated: June 5, 2019 8:59:23 am
Company paintings from connoisseurs Shilpa and Praful Shah’s collection provide a window into India’s past
Exhibited at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya last year, the Shahs are open to exhibiting the collection in other cities as well — putting the spotlight onto the school of art that is often not acknowledged for documenting its times.
It was in the ’80s that Mumbai-based art and textile connoisseurs Praful and Shilpa Shah began to develop keen interest in Company paintings. “Our interest arose from wanting to know the story of our own past, of the people we were. We felt that our history told through the exploits of kings, queens and courtiers but missed the narrative of the mainstream, common folk — what we did for a living, what we wore, what festivals we celebrated, in short the quotidian life of the ordinary Indian in the 18th and 19th century. It is Company paintings that brought this account alive before the advent of photography. What were souvenirs for the British officials, merchants and travellers are authentic records of our Indian way of life of that time,” says Shilpa, recalling the couple’s initial interest in the genre.
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