NEW DELHI: The Lalit Kala Akademi will host an exhibition of paintings at Rashtrapati Bhavan over a period of three days.
The exhibition will be the culmination of a week-long residential programme for artists, some of them octogenarians, from November 10 to 17.
“This was a first of its kind initiative for the Akademi holding a residential programme for artists in the premises of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Most of the artists are in their 80s. A few younger artists also got the opportunity to learn from the senior artists,” said Akademi chairperson Uttam Pacharne.
It would be a rare occasion where India’s most celebrated visual artists will create their work in the ‘pristine environment’ of Rashtrapati Bhavan and their creations will serve as ‘national heritage’, he added. The idea of the residency was to have artworks by Indian artists in Rashtrapati Bhavan as most of the art collection there are by foreign artists, he said.
There were 12 artists at the programme — Krishen Khanna, Ganesh Haloi, Anjolie Ela Menon, Lalu Prasad Shaw, Sanat Kar, Arpita Singh, Paramjit Singh, Suhas Bahulkar, Chandra Bhattacharjee, Anwar Khan, Sanjay Bhattacharya and Chinmay Roy. The aim of the programme was to promote interdisciplinary art practices among eminent and upcoming artists.