K.Venkatappa (1886-1965)
“Look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.”
Shiva Thandava
I’d seen this majestic red brick building for years, often driving past it when living only five minutes away from it a few years ago. I never stopped to have a peek, and didn’t even know it was a museum until the other day.
The building - neoclassical in architectural style – is nestled back from the main road, hidden, and away from the sound of honking car horns and speeding traffic. Last week, having been out for brunch nearby and driving back home I decided to stop and see what the building actually was. It transpired that it was the ‘Venkatappa Art Gallery and Government Museum’ (situated in the Cubbon Park district of Bangalore), a museum I had never heard mention of before – truly a hidden gem.
On entering the museum, I was amazed to see galleries filled with sculptures, archaeological and geological artifacts: jewellery, coins and antiquities from different regions of India, with some relics dating back 5000 years.
I ventured upstairs to another wing of the building and entered a gallery full of K. Venkatappa’s works. One part of the room had his mesmerising plaster-of-paris based reliefs of Indian mythology and in the centre, his art materials. Later I came to realise how important and influential an artist he was in India and the impact and influence he had in the arts scene in India.
