An authentic voice’ for modern Indian Theatre and Art
A tribute to the recently demised Ebrahim Alkazi a polymath, institution builder and visionary for the arts
Theatre and art doyen Ebrahim Alkazi (1925-2020) passed away surrounded by his family, at Escorts Hospital, New Delhi at the age of 95 on 4 August 2020. Alkazi died of cardiac failure, although he was in a healthy condition and fighting his battle with Alzheimer’s right till the very end. He is mourned by his daughter, noted Indian theatre director and costume designer, Amal Allana, and son the noted theatre director Feisal Alkazi, besides his entire family, the theatre, and the art world.
“My father will be missed by all generations, both young and old and will be remembered as the perfectionist he was in his work in theatre and art, since the time of pre-Independence,” said Feisal Alkazi in a press statement. Feisal is known for his work in Ruchika Theatre Group, while Amal is the quiet but ever-present exhibition design expert who oversees all the exhibitions hosted at Art Heritage, and was the tour-de-force behind the wonderful book on her father, Ebrahim Alkazi Directing Art: The Making of a Modern Indian Art World, edited by Dr. Parul Dave Mukherjee and Yashodhara Dalmia (among 5 other contributors) that was launched on March 9, 2017, at the India Art Fair.
The last time one hoped to get a glimpse of Alkazi was when I attended his exhibition Opening Lines, a historic research exhibition devoted to him, hosted at the Shridharani Gallery, and Art Heritage, New Delhi, in October 2019, curated by Bombay-based poet and cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskote. Unfortunately, Alkazi was not feeling well that day and he didn’t make it to the gallery, but I was privileged to see his artworks, sketchbooks, read bits of his writing and get an added perspective on this towering figure whose reputation as a legendary theatre-pedagogue and institution-builder, champion of artists, organizer of exhibitions, and mentor to generations of actors on stage and screen, was so huge that the memory of his own artmaking had been largely forgotten. Hoskote writes about Alkazi as a “foundational figure of modern and Indian culture straddling theatre, visual arts and photography.”
The exhibition was hosted as a celebration of Alkazi’s 94th birthday, and it presented a considerable body of his paintings and drawings in several media, which had never been on public view since they were originally shown in the early 1950s and the mid-1960s. Opening Lines brought back to light most of the works that went into Alkazi’s exhibitions at the Asian Institute, London (1950), the Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay (1952), and (1965). In each exhibition, he demonstrated a versatile command over a variety of media and techniques, ranging from watercolor, charcoal, ink, poster paint, and carbon tracing to the sketch pen, marker, and frottage.
Educated in India and England, after graduating in 1950 from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London. Alkazi produced and directed a wide range of plays, held several one-man exhibitions of his paintings in England and India, and pioneered a seminal series of eight educational exhibits entitled “This Is Modern Art” While still in his twenties, Alkazi received numerous awards in recognition of his varied talents and activities, including the British Drama League Award for “Work of Outstanding Merit”, and the BBC Award for Broadcasting. Towards the latter part of his life, Alkazi has received the highest national awards including the Kalidas Award, the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, and the Life Achievement Award.
Another one of Alkazi’s many achievements that I was fortunate to enjoy access to, (thanks to a KHOJ residency, Shifting Focus, with Goa CAP and Mansi Bhatt) was The Alkazi Collection of Photography (ACP), a privately owned archive that is opened up to select students and practitioners of photography. In the early 1980s, Alkazi began collecting 19th-century photographs of South Asia. His collection along with his interest in establishing an archive of material for future scholars, broadly covering the beginning of photography in Asia, c. The 1840s to the present. The greater part of The Alkazi archives concentrates on early material. Important holdings include the earliest images from both Burma and India.
The subject represented comprises landscapes, architectural and archaeological views, portraits, sociological studies, scientific exploration, military campaigns and ceremonial events, withholdings of all the major photographers working in these regions. The photographs are held in albums, photographically illustrated books, and as single images.
In recent years Alkazi has set up a charitable trust, The Alkazi Foundation for the Arts in India and it is dedicated to research in 19th-century photography and contemporary art. The Trust’s awards, fellowship, grants, and scholarships to artists, students, and researchers and its work is disseminated to the larger public worldwide through a series of publications and exhibitions.
As one can see that the Alkazi legacy lives on and his immense contribution to the world of theatre, art, and photography will be valued for generations to come.
Text by Georgina Maddox
Images: The Alkazi Foundation for the Arts
Find out more about the Artist and Gallery:
http://www.artheritagegallery.com/about-us/amalallana/
http://trivenikalasangam.org/shridharani-gallery/
https://jehangirartgallery.com/beta/
