The Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh awarded a Getty Foundation grant

Chandigarh, 8^th August, 2017: The Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh has ​been awarded a ​Getty Foundation grant of US Dollar 150,000/- for the preparation of a Conservation Management Plan for the future management framework. The Getty Foundation fulfils the philanthropic mission of the J. Paul ​Getty Trust by supporting individuals and institutions committed to advancing the greater understanding and preservation of the visual arts in Los Angeles and throughout the world. Through strategic grant initiatives, the Foundation strengthens art history as a global discipline, promotes the interdisciplinary practice of conservation, increases access to museum and archival collections, and develops current and future leaders in the visual arts.

The Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh ​is one of twelve significant 20th century buildings to receive a grant this year as part of ​the Getty Foundation’s ​Keeping It Modern ​initiative​. Since its inception in 2014, Keeping It Modern has supported 45 international conservation projects in 22 countries that collectively point to the importance of research and planning for the preservation of modern architectural heritage.

The twelve projects selected to receive funding this year represent the work of innovative architects who pushed the boundaries of design and construction materials, including the Bauhaus Building in Dessau, Germany (architect: Walter Gropius); Boston City Hall, Boston, Massachusetts (architects: Kallmann, McKinnell, & Knowles); Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan (architect: Kenzo ​Tange); ​Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh, India (architect: Le Corbusier)​; and Stadio Flaminio, Rome, Italy (architect: Pier Luigi Nervi).

All of the new grants will support conservation planning and research, as successful interventions require the thorough assessment of current building conditions. The results will provide models for the protection of modern architecture for future generations.

The Government Museum and Art Gallery in Chandigarh is a pivotal work by Le Corbusier, representing the culmination of the concept he developed with Pierre Jeanneret of a museum of the future. Their 1931 idea for a “Museum of Unlimited Growth” employed the design principle of a nautilus, radiating outward from the center to create a sense of unrestricted expansion. Le Corbusier also realized this idea at the Sanskar Kendra in Ahmedabad and the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo. Le Corbusier’s use of exposed reinforced concrete and brick cladding for the museum’s facade symbolized the emergence of novel building typologies and the “arrival of the modern” in India as a newly independent nation.

The selection of the Government Museum and Art Gallery for this prestigious grant has been achieved through a year-long grant application process realized with the teamwork put in by Ms Kriti Garg, IAS, Director, Government Museum and Art Gallery, Prof Manoj Arora, Director PEC University of Technology, Prof. Sangeeta Bagga, Chandigarh College of Architecture and Ms. Seema Gera, Deputy Curator Museum. The PEC University of Technology is the lead financial partner of the museum for this grant and would appoint experts for the preparation of the management plan.

Conservation of modern structures is a fairly recent phenomenon in India and in a nascent stage. Considering the limited lifespan of exposed concrete, preliminary studies show sections of the museum which reveal material deterioration. It is intended that this c​onservation p​lanning along with onsite tests and lab analysis will address conservation issues that will subsequently guide implementation of conservation projects in the long term. To enhance the impact of the project, the team will strengthen local capacity through workshops and museum training and build international connections by convening representatives from the other two similar museums in Ahmedabad and Tokyo. Thus the c​onservation ​p​lanning of the Museum and Art Gallery at this juncture would serve as a pilot project and role model for the large scale exposed concrete ensembles to be conserved in the city and the country.