Pix by: ChethanBengaluru: At one end of the dimly-lit hall at National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Vasanthnagar, Sandro Botticelli’s famed Italian Renaissance painting, Madonna and Child, glimmers against a monochrome grey wall, bathed in warm yellow light.The Madonna gazes at her child with a quiet melancholy, while the kid looks away. There is tenderness in the scene, but also an unmistakable sense of sacrifice — that of a mother seemingly accepting that she must give up her child for a greater good.At the other end of the hall stands a very different mother. Chamunda, represented in an 11th to 12th century Indian sculpture, holds on to her child with an intensity that suggests she will not let go at any cost.Separated by centuries, geography and artistic traditions, the two works nevertheless appear to be having a conversation.Placed at opposite ends of a hall where 26 exhibits have been arranged in the form of a basilica, the works embody two contrasting ideas of motherhood. Curator Naman Parmeshwar Ahuja says the unlikely pairing is deliberate. “They are made 100 years away from each other. One in Bengal, the other in Florence (Italy). And they are in a dialogue with each other as two kinds of polar opposites of motherhood, as they are operating as an axis in this exhibition,” Ahuja explained.The juxtaposition lies at the heart of One Mother, Many Mother Tongues, an exhibition inaugurated at NGMA Wednesday in collaboration with the consulate general of Italy in Bengaluru and ministry of culture. The exhibition will remain open till Sept 20.This is for the first time in India that the celebrated Madonna and Child painting will be on display in Bengaluru after a stop in Delhi.Botticelli’s oil painting is displayed alongside sculptures in marble, schist, sandstone and terracotta, bringing together artistic traditions separated by time and place. The result is less a conventional display of masterpieces and more a conversation between different civilisations about love, sacrifice, protection, devotion and the many meanings attached to motherhood.For Ahuja, the exhibition also responds to a larger challenge facing museums in India: making art accessible and meaningful to people. The arrival of Botticelli in Bengaluru, he believes, is an opportunity to make global art accessible without requiring audiences to travel halfway around the world.“If you really wish to engage globally, then you’ve got to start engaging out of your own province to start looking at the rest of the world. I think that’s what exhibitions like this allow us,” he said.For Italy, the exhibition is also an exercise in cultural exchange. Consul general Giandomenico Milano described it as an important step in strengthening bilateral ties.But the exhibition’s gaze is not directed only towards Europe. “It’s very important that we also learn to pay attention to the great masterpieces of India that are often lying neglected in our little provincial museums and that have never been published before. That chance will be available through this exhibition,” Ajadded.To help visitors navigate the works and the ideas connecting them, museum educators will conduct guided sessions.Pix:Major works:Madonna and ChildPainted by Sandro Botticelli in 1490, it is considered one of the finest works of the Renaissance artist. Mary wears a blue cloak, which is the midnight sky, with stars and cosmos all around her. She also has the blood red which she wears within. Oil painting, Museo Stibbert, FlorenceMatrika (Skanda Mata)A sculpture from Taneshwar Mahadev, Udaipur district from the sixth century, the sculpture is from Government Museum, City palace, Udaipur. The sculptures found at Thaneswar Mahadev temple are notable for the characteristics of Gupta and post-Gupta period styles. This is one of the first times that it is being exhibited. The skandamata, with the baby playing with a rattle, has gently twisted her body and has extended her hip to balance this baby, as she gently shows extraordinary tenderness.Mother and female childA first or second century AD sculpture from Bengal, the bone or ivory sculpture is different from others as the mother carries a female child. All other sculptures have a male child.Mater MatutaThis sculpture is from Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia, Rome. Made of limestone from the fourth-third centuries BC, it is made of volcanic rock.Goat-headed mother goddessThe sandstone sculpture is from the pre-Kushan period from the first century BC of the Mathura region. Put up in Government museum in Mathura, these goat/bovine-headed matrikas are found at ancient Buddhist sites in Gandhara and Mathura.ends
