New Delhi, With the landmark Shastri Bhawan set to be demolished soon, two giant murals created by Satish Gujral in 1968 adorning its facade may get a second life, as an NGMA-led team of experts has drawn up a blueprint to “carefully remove and relocate” the prized artworks to a site within Lutyens’ Delhi.
As the building is set to be demolished, we have been assigned the responsibility to carefully remove and relocate his iconic murals of Shastri Bhawan. The demolition of Shastri Bhawan and the adjoining Krishi Bhawan, two Lutyens’ Delhi landmarks that housed several key ministries for decades, is set to begin soon, with the Central Public Works Department initiating the process to vacate the two premises. Kartavya Bhawans 4 and 5, part of the sprawling new government office complex coming up under the Central Vista redevelopment project, will replace the two buildings constructed between 1956 and 1968, which served as administrative hubs for Central ministries.
We will also document the entire process,” NGMA Director General Sanjeev Kishor Goutam told PTI. He said work has begun to find a suitable site for relocation, but “we wish to keep it within Lutyens’ Delhi”. A lead investigator of this “challenging project” from the NGMA side said, “We have already communicated with the NDMC , as well as the art and culture department of the city government to suggest possible places for the relocation of the murals. Goutam said, “Initially, we held multiple deliberations with an intention to adopt the murals ourselves and have them housed on the NGMA campus, perhaps by creating a new support frame. But the NGMA, located on the heritage Jaipur House campus, faces the India Gate complex, “so one cannot even erect such a tall structure on the campus”, the DG said. Tokas said the other probable sites for relocation, which have been suggested during discussions with the relevant authorities, include the new Delhi Police headquarters and the Vikas Minar of the Delhi Development Authority . “We would prefer its new address to be the NDMC headquarters in Lutyens’ Delhi, as it’s a tall building and a prominent landmark,” she said.
“Satish Gujral was one of the most eminent artists of our country, and last year, we celebrated his birth centenary at the NGMA.
It is a ‘G 7’ structure, and the two murals one each over gate no. 2 and gate no. 3 facing Rajendra Prasad Road span a vertical axis, covering floor levels 1 through 7. Each mural is about 73 feet tall and 11 feet wide at the base. It also features a chakra, and below it the artist’s signature ‘Gujral 68’ , followed by a ram-like figure at the bottom. “We have so far not been able to lay hands on any documentation of both the creation of the murals and their installation on the facade of the Shastri Bhawan in 1968. So, they did the pilot and removed 4-5 tiles last month and found thick mortar behind the mural,” Tokas said.
The team recently zeroed in on the campus of the School of Planning and Architecture near the ITO, but it was found that the massive murals would need a much taller building for relocation, and therefore the hunt for a suitable new address is still underway. Goutam, himself an accomplished artist, said Satish Gujral also had an architectural sense and therefore these mural works by him also reflect a significant vocabulary of the broad range of his oeuvre in all visual mediums sculpture, painting as well as murals. Built in the heart of Delhi in the initial decades after Independence to house offices of several ministries, Shastri Bhawan was named after the second prime minister of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri. “We have done pre-removal photographic documentation using a drone method at each level. Scientific documentation is ongoing. One of the murals depicts a man on the upper portion, with a semi-mythical bird crowning it. The other mural features a woman’s figure covering her face with her hand. Below it is a chakra, followed by a mythical horse-like animal and a mosaic that carries the first Hindi alphabet ‘Kk’ and a few numerals in Hindi. We also don’t know if it was made in pieces elsewhere and later assembled on site or if it was done in situ,” the curator added. Given the challenges, the NGMA is working with a Delhi-based firm which has experience working on projects related to art and structural conservation. “After the visit, the conservation team suggested first carrying out a pilot study by removing just a sample piece to find out what material lies behind the mural. Gujral is also known for designing the Belgian Embassy building in Delhi. “His mural works, in a way, were executed in his capacity as an artist with an architectural imagination. Shashti Bhawan, a rather nondescript structure with no prominent architectural features, perhaps stands out, owing to these two signature Gujral murals. “The process of removal is going to be very complicated and challenging, so the culture ministry had also asked us to involve the Gujral Foundation as part of the team.
The team, helmed by the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi, consists of NGMA’s artists, art and architectural conservation experts, and the celebrated artist’s family members through the Gujral Foundation, a top official said. “The abstract ceramic murals with a running border artwork around the four sides depict human figures, animals with mythical features and carry a tribal impression too,” NGMA curator Jyoti Tokas told PTI. Below it is another chakra, and a horse-like animal carrying a bird on its back at the bottom, Tokas said, describing the abstract-themed murals. She said that given the sheer scale of the two panels, it is both a logistical challenge to find a site in the heart of Delhi with a large wall, as well as a research challenge since the installation process remains a “kind of mystery”. Its members recently visited the Shastri Bhawan, the official said. So, his murals are on the facades of the Shashti Bhawan, an annexe building on the Baroda House campus in Delhi, and the Delhi High Court,” Goutam said. Tokas said the Gujral family is “very emotional” about these murals and they are supporting the initiative. His son Mohit is an architect, so he’s very much involved in the process, she said. We will carry out the removal before the demolition of the Shastri Bhawan,” Tokas said.
Last year, the NGMA produced a coffee-table book on the life and legacy of Gujral, who was born in 1925 in Jhelum in undivided India, and moved to the country with his family after Partition in 1947. The younger brother of I K Gujral, who served as the prime minister of India from 1997 to 1998, Satish Gujral passed away on March 26, 2020, at the age of 94. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
“His murals are prized pieces of art, and we are working to preserve his legacy, also as a tribute to the artist whose birth centenary was marked last year,” Goutam said.
