KOTTAYAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will formally dedicate the ‘Cartoonist Sankar Memorial National Cartoon Museum and Art Gallery’ to the nation on Thursday. Announcing the event at a press conference here on Tuesday, Minister for Cultural Affairs K C Joseph said that the museum is the first of its kind in the state and would be elevated to the ‘top cartoon study centre’ in the country.
The museum is being set up under the aegis of Kerala Lalithakala Academy at Krishnapuram near Kayamkulam. The museum, in memory of cartoonist Sankar on his 112th birthday, has been built on a 15,000-sq ft area and will showcase Sankar’s major works. His tools including brush, pen, easel, table, overcoat and dolls would also be displayed at the museum, the minister said. The tools are donated by Sankar’s daughters, Yamuna Sankar and Santha Sreenivas. The minister said the museum will showcase cartoons of existing and former cartoonists, but will predominantly feature Sankar’s works. Almost 120 original cartoons have been received from his kin. Cartoons of Gandhiji, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi are among them, the minister said.
A water-coloured portrait of Nehru by him will be a major display at the museum. Cartoons of former stalwarts including Abu Abraham, O V Vijayan, Kutty, Samuel, B M Gafoor, John Mathew, Thomas P Mohan, Kerala Varma, K S Pillai, P K Manthri along with Sankar’s students and existing cartoonists including Yesudasan and B G Varma will be exhibited at the museum, he said.
According to Lalithakala Academy officials K A Francis and Chithra Krishnankutty, Minister Joseph himself will preside over the function on Thursday. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala will inaugurate the art gallery and PWD Minister V K Ebrahim Kunj will carry out handing over of the keys, they said.
K C Venugopal MP as well as Sankar’s daughters will also be present on the occasion, they said.