Viewing Sikh history from perspective of western artists

CHANDIGARH: With an intent to take the Sikhs, especially the youth, back to their glorious historyabout religion, life, royalty and the ethos of Sikhism—Hubris Foundation has brought 80 museum archival replicas of paintings by western artists from the 19th and 20th centuries. This is the first attempt by the foundation to bring the replicas to Chandigarh and various parts of Punjab.
The collection of the works titled, ‘The Sikh An Occidental Romance,’ has been put together by the foundation after having moved to about more than 60 institutes and museums from various parts of the world including, Europe, USA, Hungary and Japan.Art enthusiast and founder of the foundation, Gautam Srivastav said, “This is our maiden attempt to bring it to the state where it belongs.” The sketches of the artists vary from works of Alfred De Dreus, Emily Eden, Edwin Lord Weeks, Prince Alexis Soltykoff. The exhibition has been chosen to coincide with the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. “This was the right time and the right occasion to bring to Punjab some of the lost glories which the present day youth were probably unaware of,” said Srivastav.
The 80 frames that have been displayed at the exhibition will remain for the next two days. The sketches include images of the Golden Temple across years and the works belonging to different artists from different years and different countries. “As a visitor, one can see the differences in the sketches, the angles and the way it was perceived by artists from different angles,” said Srivastav.
He added, “ The sketches have been made by artistes without any bias, they did not have background of the religion and the people, so it is a romantic narration of the artists and the way they saw life, wealth, religion and royalty,” said Srivastav. Some of the primary attractions include the portrait of the battle of Ranjit Singh by different artists ranging from Emily Eden to Edwin Lord.
“There are proposals to host the exhibition at Virasat-e-Khalsa and other parts of the state, including Amritsar and Patiala,” said Srivastav. The exhibition was first held in Delhi in 2011.
Anantbir Singh, who is part of the foundation and also part of the royal family points out that the attempt was to bring together the works and take it to the younger generation of the state. “Sikhs who are settled abroad have been able to see the work at some museum or institute in some part of the world,” said Singh. He said that it was the youth and Sikhs of the state who did not get an exposure to this aspect of the art.
Some of the frames that are displayed include the Anglo Sikh Wars, Viscount Hardinge, the charming cities of Amritsar and Lahore, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and The Princess Bamba Collection. The members of the foundation admit that it is a difficult task to seek permission and put the work together, but now that they have been able to manage and take the initiative, they would want to ensure maximum number of visitors.