At 88, Jagdish Mittal is showing no signs of slowing down. The man behind one of the most unique art museums in the world, which has earned much repute without even having a building, has decided to stop waiting and do something about it himself.
“I have now donated my residence to a public trust named Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum of Indian Art,” says Jagdish, who has even made his intent official in his will.
The art collector and his wife Kamla created the museum in 1976 to house their hand-picked art and artefacts dating back to the 1st century BC, since then this ‘museum’ has existed without its own building.
Presently, the Mittals’ collection stands at around 2,000 objects including miniature paintings, manuscripts, Islamic calligraphy, folk and classical bronzes, elaborate terracotta, wood carving, ivory, glass, jade, metal ware in bronze, brass, copper, silver, bidri and textiles. While the miniatures and drawings form about fifty per cent of the collection, they also have Nepali and Tibetan thankas.
His obsession with collecting “beautiful” things started when he was only 10. “When I was in Class V, we had a history book that had a beautiful Mughal painting. And when the textbook changed, the work went missing. So I went looking for the original print,” he recalls. That habit grew over the years, and as he mastered the art of “finding” precious stuff, he met Kamala at Santiniketan.
The connection was instant. “We have never disagreed on the art we have collected. We don’t have any differences of opinion on things we have found. And she has an amazing eye,” he says.
The couple later settled in Hyderabad, where till date, a conversation on art cannot end without a mention of the Mittals. Several artists, gallery owners, curators, buyers and collectors consult Jagdish not only for information but also for inspiration. And despite his deteriorating health, Jagdish turns up at every art event he is invited to. “These are personal sacrifices I make to ensure that the community benefits. So if a few extra people will attend the event if I show up, I will gladly do it.”
The oldest artefact in his collection is a terracotta piece dating back to 1 century BC and his latest acquisition is a painting of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. Jagdish, however, refuses to name his most prized possession. “That is a difficult question. Art, I believe, is about aesthetics; it should inspire the spectator whether it’s a painting or a textile. So it becomes hard to name one,” he says.
In one of his published essays, A Collector’s Eye for Beauty, Jagdish writes of a “sublime pleasure” he saw in his teachers’, Nandalal Bose and Rai Krishnadasaji, eyes. He says it was the same “sublime pleasure” that transformed him when he, searched “the by-lanes of Varanasi and at last located a small curio shop where I bought a Pahari painting. That day, the collector in me was born.”
Today he finds it hard to describe the “pleasure”, but likens it to a religious experience. “It is not happiness or joy. It’s the feeling a devotee would perhaps get at a temple,” he says, adding, “I see beauty in a different way. That is how I built this collection.”
Although he believes that art is subjective, he insists that, “not everyone has the facility to really appreciate art. A master is born when experienced eyes across borders and across generations agree that a piece of art is valuable”.
One of the biggest troubles collectors today are facing is the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, from 1972. “This Act limits buying within the country as it requires registration of works by the owner. Due to this museums are not buying and there are no acquisitions and there are also no exchanges between people. Basically, it is an extremely cumbersome process,” explains Jagdish.
The Act is just one of the things Jagadish wants to change. Besides that, he’s finally happy that a collection to live for... will also live on.