The Concept

BACHHAWAT FOUNDATION

                   The Legacy continues…

The ‘Bachhawats of Kolkata’ stands emblematic in their contribution to the field of art, literature, aesthetics and culture. The legacy of their patronage to the wide range of beneficiaries including visual artists, poets, writers, litterateurs, critics, craftsmen, collectors, theorists, connoisseurs and many more is unprecedented and unparallel in the City of Joy. They are one of the primary initiators to set the discourse of creative connectivity, artistic freedom and cultural interaction between different cross-sections of art practitioners from the local identity to the global vintage. The dynamics and the dialectics of contemporary Indian Art and its intellectual propagation has been geared up by the Bachhawats for more than two generations and now it’s time to add another feather in its hat of accomplishments as a much bigger signifier in the world of art and aesthetics.

Before naming it, let’s take a look at the opening remarks to a series of lectures by one of the legendary artists of Modern Indian Art, K G Subramanyan where he stated; “What concept does a modern artist or critic have of current art activity? How does a modern artist react to his environment and cultural inheritance? What perceptions or illusions or emotional urges does he work under? And what general norms of achievement can we think of in the highly heterogeneous art scene of today?” – The answer to these issues in the form of this set of questions has been delivered by the Bachhawats in several ways for an age but now standing on the verge of cultural conglomeration globally, setting up its apex model unique of its kind in the art- scape of the nation, the Bachhawats re-defines the cultural spirit and heritage of the city once more. Thus, is the inception of BACHHAWAT FOUNDATION, a novel episode in the legacy of art and culture!

 The root idea of Bachhawat Foundation was conceived on November 1, 2012. A lot of groundwork and research was done before it could be finally given the shape for its formal launch which will take place on December 15, 2013. Bachhawat Foundation is the brainchild of the Bachhawat family who also form the board of the respectable trustees– Manik Bachhawat, Panne Kunwar, Amitabh Bachhawat, Madhu Bachhawat, Vikram Bachhawat, Priya Bachhawat and Aman Bachhawat, each one owing virtuous contributions in art and literature. The whole family integrated to hold up this Foundation with one sole proposition in mind that Kolkata should also have an Art and Literature Foundation of international standards which would form a cultural rendezvous under the same roof. Not just setting another art gallery or airing an art fair just to deal with art from a prospective business angle, but to give artists, writers, litterateurs their true respect and worth and bringing them together with a gamut of intellectuals, culturally setting an inspiration for everyone across the globe who is dealing with art, aesthetics, literature and culture in any form and bridging the gap between them – Bachhawat Foundation vouches to provide it all making it exemplary and unique in the times to come.

Set in the lap of the nature, at an outskirt from the hustle and bustle of the city, less than 20 kilometers from the Kolkata airport, Bachhawat Estate will be the pivotal point to exercise everything related to the Bachhawat Foundation. In the serene ambience of nature’s hub, a cultural hub is ready to onset its series of activities to proliferate and promote art and literature of its best kind in the most magnificent way.

Bachhawat Foundation aims to primarily conduct Art Residency Programs to support young creative talents, innovative minds and struggling artists the best of facilities so that they can create their worth through art to set new discourses. Eminent artists, historians, connoisseurs, critics would be a part of this endeavour in invariable ways supporting and guiding the younger generation in their creative spree. Art Camps will form another major venture of the Bachhawat Foundation. An interactive zone along with the collective mission to bring together artists, art galleries, art curators, art schools and institutes, art collectors and above all art lovers and many more will provide an insight to the wholesome cultural development of the society and Bachhawat Foundation promises to dedicate itself to attain the best of it.

The Bachhawats have always given importance to every facet of visual arts from its traditional trends to the inception of neo-art mediums and forms. Be it content-based art or be it abstract formal development or be it exceptionally conceptual or be it an amalgamation of all forms or be it an ingenious installation or be it the minutest stroke of etching or be it the finest set of graphics – the Bachhawats have given equal importance to all and embraced each art practice along with the practitioner supporting them to be able to execute the best of the best. Thus Bachhawat Foundation also finds it absolutely essential to have its different studio and infrastructure including a printmaking studio with a purely professional setup for the graphic and printmaking artists for their optimum use to channelize them for best creative exposure. In the list of plans, Bachhawat Foundation will also have its own ceramic and pottery kiln to provide great opportunities to the artists and artisans working in this medium. And the how can the Bachhawats keep the sculptors at bay! So, a separate Metal Casting unit is also going to be set up for sculpting. Many, many more things are going to come up and the Bachhawat Foundation expects to live up to its dreams and serve the society with such cultural initiatives as ever and always in the years to come... 

 The foundation stone has already been laid and as the head of the family, Manik Bachhawat, a noted Art Critic and a leading Poet of Hindi Literature in the country takes immense pleasure in putting forward the Bachhawat Foundation before his successors and generations to come who should be able to held their heads high in the art world as leading artists, writers and creators belonging to the world’s largest democracy.