In Nicolas Berggruen’s view, museums have evolved differently the world over. In Europe, royal families built private collections, which later became part of state’s collections, displayed for the public and the larger benefit of the arts. In the U.S., large business families such as the Gettys and the Morgans took the lead. Berggruen believes that private museums in India too can achieve global standards.

Unlike government-funded museums, the private ventures can get off the ground faster and exercise better control on the quality of exhibits. Seeking support from corporate houses can be a way forward for such museums. In fact, that’s the path that some of the earliest ventures in modern India had taken. As early as 1949, The Calico Museum of Textiles opened in Ahmedabad with support from the industrial family of the Sarabhais. In Kolkata, industrialist Basant Kumar Birla and his wife Sarla, both serious art collectors, established the Birla Academy of Art & Culture in 1967.

Although Indian museums can boast world-class collections, they have lagged behind in management and maintenance. At Hyderabad’s Salar Jung Museum, which houses a large private collection of carpets, ivory, porcelain and other antiques, the shoddy display is an example of how not to run a museum. Lighting, temperature, and humidity are not regulated, vintage oriental rugs lie unprotected, prone to bugs and fungus, and the artefacts are not properly described.

Rakhi Sarkar, director of Kolkata’s CIMA Art Gallery, says the state-run model hasn’t worked, leaving much to be done in cataloguing, conservation, restoration, and archiving. The Kolkata Museum of Modern Art, or KMOMA, of which Sarkar is a driving force, is a partnership between the central and the state governments and the private sector. The Rs 400 crore project is expected to be completed in three years.

Sabyasachi Mukherjee, director-general of Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), says that the aim to serve the public is a must for any museum to stay active and popular. While its rationale should be educational, not commercial, it should have the financial nimbleness of an autonomous entity.

CSMVS itself has traversed a similar arc. In 1905, a group of prominent citizens resolved to commemorate the visit of the Prince of Wales by setting up a museum named after him. Since its opening in 1922, bequests such as the Tata collections in 1922 and 1993, the Akbar Hydari collection in 1934, and the Karl and Meherbai Khandalavala collection in 1955 added to the museum’s stature. It functions as an independent body, with revenue coming from more than a million tickets it sells in a year. “Our collections aren’t controlled by any person or a company. They are for the public, who we see as the actual owners,” says Mukherjee.

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