Natvar Bhavsar, KOONJ, 1982, Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on canvas, 44.2 x 72.2 in

Courtesy: DAG

India’s most respected art company began its journey not as an art gallery but as an art institution right from its very inception, choosing to build up a formidable inventory of works by Indian artists from the nineteenth century onwards. In acquiring artists’ studios and estates, it paid homage to their legacy and created a large pool of twentieth century artists and artworks that, taken together, tell the story of Indian art through iconic exhibitions curated to provide art historical overviews and document India’s tryst with modernism. In the almost three decades since DAG’s foundation, the Indian art world has seen far-reaching changes in which the company has played a stellar
role. Its pathbreaking exhibitions have brought to the fore important artists neglected through the passage of time. It has documented critical art movements and collectives. New generations of art lovers have been able to reclaim the inheritance of forgotten masters thanks largely to support from DAG through curations at its galleries as well as participation in international art fairs and support to biennales and other art-related events and collaborations. These include critical alliances with museums and cultural institutions in India and abroad. At the heart of DAG’s programming is an ongoing research curriculum responsible for lending support to art writers and curators, a rigorous publishing calendar with an impressive library of books that document Indian art history, workshops to engage the public—particularly school children and the specially-abled—in art-related workshops, commissioning of videos and films in relation to artists and their work, and engagements with artists, critics and the art community at large. DAG’s contribution to the understanding and dissemination of Indian art remains without parallel. In January 2019, India’s first public–private collaboration in the arts space began with the inauguration of DAG’s Drishyakala art museum in the precincts of Red Fort, New Delhi—a UNESCO world heritage monument—in
partnership with the Archaeological Survey of India. Rated as one of the finest art spaces in India by the media, its galleries have multiple exhibitions of national significance along with films, archival material, and facilities that include a library and children’s activity areas. A year later, in 2020, DAG’s Ghare-Baire museum of 18th-20th century Bengal art, in collaboration with ASI at its restored Old Currency Building, became one of Kolkata’s leading art and culture centres with multiple exhibition galleries.