Art Treasures of Calcutta [Ahibhushan Malik]

The collections mentioned in the articles were housed in the palaces of such people whose ancestors were the Zamindars and businessmen since the time of the British Raj. It was evident that the elite class of Calcutta was influenced by the British culture and etiquettes in the 19th and 20th Century. The upper class of the then Bengali society had a close contact with the foreigners who were in existence in large numbers in Calcutta. In many occasions, to impress the British authority, the Indian elites used to collect art in the form of sculptures, paintings, curios etc., from Europe and all over the world. As a result many of these private collections grew up with the art of European masters, viz, Rubens, Michelangelo, Titian, and Constable. Ahibushan Malik had deep understanding of European as well as Indian art as a result he could make a worthwhile documentation of the various collections.

His experienced eyes did not miss the major exhibits that were on display. His anecdotes and explanations on the art objects and the artists of the collections were worthy enough. It must be mentioned that his initiative writing "Art Treasures of Calcutta" was a significant contribution towards documenting the rich art collections of Calcutta.

The 'Pages' took the initiative of publishing the entire series of articles in book form retrieving the documents from the archives.

We are confident that the readers of all sections will be largely benefited through this publication to have a better idea of the legacy of the rich art heritage of Calcutta.

Basudeb Malik