India Today is in the business of reaching minds. Art
has been stimulating minds long before publications came into existence.
Also, art is, like publications, a reflection of its times. And,
as we continue our adventures into the field of communication, it
is with great pleasure that we take our first step into the world
of art by opening an art gallery. It will provide both artists and
art-lovers a well-equipped showspace in the heart of the capital
for visual communication.
Contemporary Indian art is coming of age, and we would like to be
part of this process. We hope to curate shows which will define
new parameters as also produce international-class publications
which will record the work of today’s painters beyond the
walls, and for posterity.
Art Today will also produce signed and numbered prints to extend
the hanging value of rare, contemporary works to many more interiors
where art will be enjoyed beyond the price-tag.
Beyond the works of contemporary Indian artists
and sculptors, Art Today will also exhibit the best of the traditional
and future art forms and, when the occasion demands, collaborate
with institutions and galleries abroad to bring the best of the
world to India’s capital city.
In this spirit, we welcome you to our first show.
Rekha & Aroon Purie
February 5, 1995

New Delhi, designed by Edwin Lutyens,
was founded in 1911 by King George V and Queen Mary with
a jade and ivory mallet studded with precious stones.
A lot of this Delhi has, alas, been demolished. While
renovating the space for Art Today, my basic concern was
the restoration of the lost splendour of Connaught Place,
designed by R.T. Russell. I have restructured it spatially
to serve as a vast unobtrusive simple interior for the
purposes of a modern art gallery. The result is there
for you to see.
-Prem Nath, Architect |
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Since that memorable day in 1995, Art Today has evolved
into India’s premier gallery. In the spirit of its raison
d'etre, Art Today has exhibited the best of contemporary painters
and sculptors--M.F. Husain, Sunil Das, Meera Mukherjee, Satish Gujral,
Ravinder Reddy, Gogi Saroj Pal, A.Ramachandran, Sanjay Bhattacharya,
Anjolie Ela Menon, and Riten Majumdar--on the one hand, and that
of final-year art students on the other. At the same time, Art Today
has also curated shows for the experimental artists of the Osho
Commune and traditional artists like Kailash Chand Sharma and Vijay
Hagargundgi, trying to keep the art of miniature painting alive
in India.
In the last 5 years, Art Today has revolutionised
India’s art-market by making art more accessible through its
limited-edition reproduction of handpicked masterpieces. Now, with
its online shoppe, artetc.--which offers reproductions, calendars,
and postcards-sets--Art Today hopes to take Indian art beyond its
premier premises and into the global marketplace, thus living up
to the vision it had created for itself.
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