Category:Gayer Anderson

The Gayer-Anderson collection of Indian Paintings

It is the tune, which is responsible for the creation. This tune exists in every human being but sounds in only few. When this sounds, we find the additions in the history of every discipline of art and culture associated with the creativity of man. We have a fine and an exceptional example in the history of fine arts. This example is exceptional in the sense that it is though known as singular but it comprises the two and they are Major R.G. Gayer Anderson and Colonel T.G. Gayer Anderson, the two great twins of Lavenham, a historical village of United Kingdom.

This fact should be taken as surprise that the art historians and other connoisseurs could not carry the memory of their great contribution. These bachelor twins were not only the disciplined military officers but were great collectors of art objects, writers, illustrators and the persons of great vision. Major was also a poet, influenced with Keats and friend of famous poet Stephen Spender. These different dimensions of their artistic personalities are still waiting to be un-veiled.

The Suffolk Free Press dated Oct.27, 1960, speaks about a memorial plaque unveiled at Lavenham by Lieut. General John Anderson, nephew of the twins. The plaque reads, "In this garden are scattered some of the ashes of both the identical twin brothers, Major R.G. John Gayer-Anderson Pasha (b 1881 d 1945) and Col. T.G. Gayer Anderson, C.M.G., D.S.O. (d 1960) who together acquired this 15th/16th century property in 1924 and having restored, furnished endowed and lived in it presented it and its contents to the Surrey Country Council as The Gayer-Anderson hostel for art students." This is known as Little Hall, at the market place, Lavenham. It further observes that the twins showed a tremendous instinct for finding valuable and beautiful things and it was always their wish that beauty should be enjoyed by as many people as possible.

The Major wrote poems and they were published under the title, "Christeros". Colonel T.G. Gayer Anderson wrote the preamble of the book and in the beginning quoted the lines of Goethe, "In the Whole, the Good, the Beautiful resolutely to live". This preamble gives a picture of his multidimensional personality.

According to colonel T.G. Gayer Anderson, his elder brother was known as John amongst his friends. The identical twins were born in Listowel, Ireland, in 1881 to Henry and Mary Anderson (The family did not add "Gayer" to its name by deed poll until 1917). The mother's family name was Morgan. Besides his twin, John had an elder sister and brother. The father of the twins was a strict disciplinarian while the mother was richly endowed with a capacity for love and happiness and with supreme unselfishness and sympathy. She was the only one, who really appreciated John's rare and sensitive character, which indeed was largely inherited from her, and became ever more like hers as he developed. Morgan was a great lover of beauty in all its forms, but chiefly of literature (especially poetry) and painting and there is no doubt that it was also from her that John derived strongly marked similar tastes, though in a more creative form.

So far as Colonel T.G. Gayer-Anderson is concerned he has not written much about himself. We find a very brief note about his own career in the guide of art hostel of Levenham, which reads as follows: "I, "The Colonel", entered the Royal Military Academy ("the Shop") in 1898, received my commission in the Royal Field Artillery in 1899 and later passed through the Staff College. I served for 5 years with my Twin in the Egyptian Army and am associated with him in some of his bequests. I saw active service in the Boer War and in both World Wars and retired from the Army in 1930, but returned to the Active List for the Second World War."

Colonel Gayer-Anderson, while serving in India between 1926 and 1930, collected the Indian paintings and drawings, particularly in Jaipur, Udaipur and Ajmer; his collection includes Mughal and Rajput pictures and is widely representative of Indian art between 1650 and the end of the nineteenth century.

Dr. Robert Skelton, a great art historian of Indian Art and associated with colonel in his younger age generously made me available the reporting of the correspondent, published in Times, June 14, 1960. This speaks about Colonel T.G. Gayer Anderson as The Benefector of the Arts. This was the report published at the moment when colonel donated the collection of Indian paintings to V&A Museum, London. "Being a practicing artist himself the colonel of specially interest in Indian drawings, regarding them as an indispensable clue to technique. This according to V&A, is a side to Indian art that had been much neglected and as a result, the pictures, the Colonel presented to the museum filled what was formerly a major gap in its collection. As a result, among the schools of painting that were for the first time adequately represented in the V&As collection was the hither to unknown school of Kota, a large state in the farmer Rajputana, and the source of sumptuous hunting scenes. Prior to Colonel's pioneer investigations, this school was completely unknown to the western scholars and the Colonel's collection enabled its history to be traced for the first time." In this context, an eminent scholar of Indian miniature paintings Dr. Rosemary Crill informed, "the initial description were done by W.G. Archer at the time of their acquisition in 1952; the 1990 book is a brief hand list of all our paintings (preserved in V&A), which obviously included the Gayer-Anderson material. Archer discussed several of the works in various books, especially in "Indian Painting in Bundi and Kotah". She further adds that there is no final or definitive catalogue of the Gayer-Anderson collection and they have not been treated in isolation but as part of our larger collection of Indian painting. Everyone who is interested in Indian painting, including myself, Robert Skelton and Andrew Topsfield to name who have been on the staff here at the V&A, have made contributions to the identification and descriptions of these paintings in different ways, in various publications. There has been no systematic cataloging of them as a group in themselves. Obviously, brief identification and attributions would have been entered into our records when they came in to the museum in 1952 and 1953, and some of the less significant ones have never been added to since then."

I visited Udaipur, Jaipur and Ajmer for collecting the information regarding Colonel but nothing substantial could be obtained. In Udaipur Mr. Jawalia an eminent scholar informed me that he has heard about Colonel Gayer-Anderson who visited the houses of the descendants of the artists of Mewar School but he could not give any specific information. He is an old man of 80 years. In Jaipur, I could contact famous artist and historian of Rajasthan Shri Ramgopal Vijayvargiya, aged 90 years and his son Shri M.L. Vijayvargiya (Gupta) but I could not get anything substantial. However, in Udaipur, Mr. Tanveer Ahmad, Curator - City Palace Museum, informed me that (Ms or Mrs ?) Annaebuddle from V&A visited Udaipur museum somewhere in 1985-86. She sent some leaves after her return to London, to the museum people for obtaining the opinion.

Colonel donated several art objects including Indian Paintings and drawings to the different provincial museums of Great Britain. Dr. Andrew Topsfield informed the author that according to the records of Ashmoleian museum, they have a group of six Indian paintings, which were given to the museum in 1943. In this context, it will be relevant to know that during the course of my correspondence with Bodleian library, Doris Nicholson informed me, "The Library Archivist has sent me the list that came with the manuscripts, so this is the best description, I can give you. I am sending a xerox of this. There is quite a file of letters relating to the bequest, but I understand Mr. Tim Rogers has been in contact with you about it. Strangely, in the file, we have found a list of 8 Indian pictures that were supposedly donated by the brother T.G. in 1958." Bodleian Library has 41 manuscripts donated in 1943, by Major R.G. Gayer-Anderson. As referred above, they have also got the Indian paintings donated by T.G. So far as I think, Colonel would have collected some of the manuscripts and paintings of Indian origin. The Persian manuscripts are mainly the manuscripts, which would have been executed in Mughal Karkhanas. The Bodleian Library is having as many as more than 40 manuscripts donated by Colonel. The Commonwealth of Australia has its own rich National Library. In 1954, Col. T.G. Gayer-Anderson, presented a collection of more than 200 Indian paintings and drawings from the Principal Schools of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

An exhibition was held in Australia House, London from 22nd April until 2nd June 1954 centered on the Gayer-Anderson gift to the Commonwealth of Australia of Indian paintings and drawings. On this occasion, a leaflet was published giving the details of the gift. In the exhibition, 64 pictures were displayed. This gift was given by Col. T.G. Gayer-Anderson and his twin brother late Major R.G. Gayer Anderson, Pasha, as a token of their sincere admiration for the Australian people and in memory of two very special Australian friends of their early manhood, the late Captain Evelyn Wilson ffrench of the Royal Artillery and Royal Flying Corps and Lieut. Colonel N.B. de Lancey Forth, D.S.O. (& bar), M.C., of the Manchester Regiment, both belonging to old Victoria families.

The gift consists of 220 Indian paintings and drawings assembled by the twin brothers between the years 1926 and 1952, chiefly in India, Cairo and London; it includes examples of the principal schools of Indian painting of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries and is usually rich in drawings. The leaflet also deals with the tradition of Indian miniature painting right from the Mughal period. It also deals about the British, European influence, which was apparent on the paintings of later period. Discussing the "tourist art" the leaflet also deals with the paintings executed in Kalighat school of Bengal in 19th century. The technique is also described. The map of undivided India, giving the locations of Chief schools of Indian Painting between the 17th and 19th centuries was also printed. These paintings are now preserved in National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

The Australian Collection Somewhere in the month of August or September 2000, I received a delightful message from Ms. Bronwyn Campbell, Assistant Curator National Gallery of Australia. She informed me that the National Gallery of Australia has a small collection of Indian miniature paintings and she is engaged in the work of identification of these miniatures. She wrote, "while fascinating, this work is proving difficult, as the bulk of the collection is formed by what is known as the Gayer-Anderson gift, which focuses on later paintings and less well known schools-there are not many resources in Australia for studying such works. Irish brothers Col. T.G. and Major R.G. Gayer-Anderson collected Indian miniature paintings between 1926 and 1952. They donated a portion of their collection to the people of Australia in 1954, with the larger part going to the Victoria and Albert museum in London.... One of the highlights, in my opinion, of our share of the collection is a group of works in the Hyderabad Style, c.1780. Our conservation department has also done a project on these paintings."

Bronwyn showed me all the drawings and miniatures of Gayer-Anderson collection. I could also discuss about the miniatures with Dr. Robyn Maxwell, Senior Curator, nga, Canberra. Michael Brand the curator could arrange a fine exhibition, the Vision of Kings: Arts and Experience in India, in 1995 under the auspices of nga, Canberra and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. In this exhibition, some fine miniatures of this collection were displayed, which later published in a book under the same title.

Some main features of this Australian collection are as below: (i) The Canberra collection contains mainly the drawings. It seems as if T.G. was fond of Indian drawings. In the collection, we can see the fine line drawings from Udaipur and Jaipur as well as from Deccan. Some drawings are incomplete. The drawings are well preserved. The subjects of these drawings are Krishna Leela theme, elephant's scene, lovers, forts, saints, sufis, battle scenes, king and queen. Some drawings are partly painted. We can also find the pencil drawings of late Mughal period. This collection also contains the drawings from hill states, particularly Kangra and Guler. The drawings of elephants are really excellent. So far as the Deccani drawings are concerned, they can very well be identified, as their line treatment is entirely different to that of the line treatment of Rajasthani drawings. (ii) The collection has superb miniatures of Deccan. The paintings belong to Hyderabad School from north Deccan. I could read on 13 paintings the name of Fadnavis of Pune. Fadnavis was a designation. As Colonel was posted in Pune, it was but natural that he would have contacted the family members of Fadnavis family, who were the descendants of Nana Fadnavis, the famous advisor of Peshwas. (iii) A unique miniature of Shankaracharya of 10th century who is considered as an incarnation of God Shankara in the Hindu tradition is also preserved in NGA. This is a painting, executed in an assimilated style having influence of Rajasthan. We find Shankaracharya sitting along with his two disciples. This miniature probably belongs to 18th century. There are no miniatures of Shankaracharya in other collections. On this miniature the word 'Shankaracharya' is inscribed. (iv) The collection contains fine portraits of Noorjahan and Shah Abbas in Mughal style. We can also see a fine painting, executed in 1800 c. of Jahangir, who is celebrating the festival of Holi with the ladies of zenana. This painting belongs to the provincial Mughal (Lucknow). Likewise, there is a fine but untraditional painting of 'Todi Ragini' from Murshidabad, executed between 1770-80. There is also a page from an album. A fine miniature is painted in which we can see the ladies celebrating Diwali. It belongs to a later Mughal period. (v) The paintings from Udaipur, Nathdwara, Jaipur and Ajmer are really superb. Some of them are fine portraits. One fantastic painting of Radha and Krishna is based on the Ashtapadi of Geet Govinda. The single leaf would have obtained either from a book or from any other collection. The paintings based on Radha-Krishna Leela theme are also fine. Probably they belong to Mewar School. It seems that the Colonel would have got stray leaves from different sources, which were based on Krishna Leela theme, particularly on the theme of Geet Govinda. The Rajasthani paintings and drawings are fine and Colonel had cleverly chosen them. (vi) There are five miniatures of Kangra school. One traditional picture is of Krishna, who is surrounded by the gopis. He is shown standing on a lotus flower, near the bank of Yamuna River. One fine miniature from Guler is also an asset of the collection. This is a miniature of a religious teacher. (vii) There are paintings from Kalighat style. The painting of Ganesh and a painting of Kali is nicely painted in traditional Kalighat style. The painting of Kali is identical to the painting preserved in V&A, London. The painting of a Bengali Babu is really very live. He is seen sitting on a chair. He has not worn full pant but a oval shaped sort of cloth for hiding the lower half of the body. Shiva, Radha and Krishna are also painted in this style. The miniature, related with the story of Pulkeshi is also preserved. (viii) Some paintings belong to Companys' period. One painting of Majumdar is exceptionally fine. This is the painting of Company school. The colors are vibrant. In this painting a lady is shown sitting under an attractive landscape. This painting should be considered as a landmark in the Company school painting. There are several other paintings, which belong to Bazar Mughal. The degenere Mughal paintings are also in the collection. The paintings executed during Company period are also preserved. Their colors are still shiny. (ix) The paintings and drawings of this bequest are very significant because they have a large range. If we find Deccani miniatures in this collection at one end, on the other there are paintings from the regions of Rajasthan like Udaipur, Jaipur and Nathdwara. If, there are paintings from Kalighat, also there are paintings from hill states like Kangra, Guler and Garhwal. If we can see the beautiful paintings of Mughal ateliers, we can also see the works done in provincial Mughal style. There are paintings of Malwa kalam and the paintings executed in Delhi in the later decades of 18th century. There are paintings from Company school and also the paintings executed during Company's rule in India.

Conclusion : So, this is a sketch of the short life histories of these two great twins of UK. This is not complete, as much more is to be added and explored. Major was a great collector, rather a born collector and his brother Colonel was also having the same qualities. Major collected art objects mainly from Egypt and Colonel collected the Indian paintings and other things from India. Colonel was inclined towards Indian paintings and some of the paintings he collected for his elder brother which are preserved at present in Gayer-Anderson Museum, Cairo. If we closely observe the Colonel's attitude regarding paintings, we find that he was very much interested in collecting the drawings. He was himself a good artist and he has drawn fine drawings in the guidebook, which he himself prepared for the Little Hall of Levenham. The drawings, he collected are mainly preserved in National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. He has also illustrated several manuscripts along with his brother and they are now mostly in Bodlean Library. The story of these twins is a story which will never come to an end, as it is a story of an eternal life of art and the life of art has no limit of age but the ages have to witness the life of art for which these great twins were devoted. Their lives ended but the liveliness of their devotion will never end.

Narmada Prasad Upadhyaya [INDIANMINIATURE.ORG]http://www.indianminiature.org/gayer_anderson/index.htm