Tourists, art enthusiasts, students and researchers visiting the Sobha Singh Art Gallery will now get an enriched viewing experience as the gallery management has yielded to the demand of allowing visitors to click photographs and make videos of the famous paintings of renowned artist and artifacts associated with him.
Also, four original paintings, Lord Krishna, Guru Teg Bahadur, martyr Flight Lieutenant Harjit Singh Kahlon and American writer Lilian Bishoff, have been displayed for the first time at the gallery located in the picturesque Andretta village, about 11 km from Palampur in the Kangra Valley.
The facility houses around five dozen original paintings by Sardar Sobha Singh, a prominent 20th century artist. The complex was designed by the artist himself with a sign on the masthead “Grow More Good”, which also sums up his philosophy on art and life. Within the art gallery complex, Sobha Singh Museum was inaugurated in March 2011.
Gallery spokesperson Sargun Kaur said that according to the expert advice of UK-based internationally renowned art restorer Ian Barrand and visual artist Bhajan Hunjan, who visited gallery recently, toughened glass has been installed in the gallery to protect the paintings.
“The issues, such as tendency of some visitors, especially children, to touch the paintings, take photographs and reluctance to remove shoes, among others, were discussed with the experts who advised installation of toughened glass in the gallery,” she said.
Kaur added, “The visitors will be requested to honour the copyrights of all displayed works and commercial photography and filming will not be allowed. The visitors who do not want to remove shoes will be provided shoe covers to enter the gallery, museum and the studio, where famous original paintings and artifacts have been displayed.”
Another facility of demonstration of various art forms like Lipan art, Mandala art, Kangra folk art “Likhnu” and traditional paintings to contemporary sculptures, quilling craft, etc will be given to visitors by the experts.
“Efforts will be made so that visitors coming from far and wide take back memories and inspiration where Sobha Singh spent four decades of creativity,” the spokesperson added.
One of the greatest Indian artists of the 20th century, Sobha Singh was born on November 29, 1901, at Sri Hargobindpur (Gurdaspur), Punjab. It was here that he learned to draw and sculpt. In 1905, his mother Bibi Acchran passed away. His father, S Deva Singh, passed away in 1917. He mastered painting by self-practice. He joined the British Indian Army as a draughtsman and was posted at various places in Iraq. He studied European paintings and got inspiration from the works of English painters.
Recently, many new artefacts were added to the Sobha Singh Museum and the UK-based art conservator Ian Barrand inaugurated the refurbished sections.
