Template:Infobox museum The Gurusaday Museum is a folk arts and crafts museum located in Kolkata, India.
History
The eminent Indian ICS officer and folklorist, Gurusaday Dutt collected over 3000 artifacts in the course of his entire career, spanning from 1905 to 1941. The bulk of the artifacts were collected between 1929 and 1939. Dutt has been referred to as, arguably, one of the foremost pioneers in the field of conservation of folk art and culture.[1][2] The notable Bengali historian Nihar Ranjan Roy once commented: "Gurusaday Dutt had revealed the origin and flow of folk art and culture with the insight of an expert jeweller, who can easily identify a real stone".[3]
After his passing away his belongings, especially the artifacts, were collected in an estate which was placed under the supervision of a trust of which the two original trustees were his brother-in-law, Major (Honorary) Basanta Kumar De, Commercial Traffic Manager (retired),[4] of the BNR, who was the family nominee on the board of the trust and Shri Subimal Ray, Bar-at-law, formerly Judge of the Supreme Court of India, who was the legal adviser to the trust. Dutt's son, Birendrasaday Dutt, Esq.,[5] formerly of the Burma Shell, was also closely involved in the management of these artifacts. Based on the recommendations made by the two members of the trust and his son, the Bengal Bratachari Society founded the museum. Later, these artifacts were shifted to the newly established museum built in Joka, Kolkata. The museum building was formally opened in the presence of the then-chief minister of West Bengal, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Ray in 1961 and the galleries were opened in the presence of the education minister of India, Professor Humayun Kabir in 1963.
The museum was administered by Dutt's daughter-in-law, Aroti Dutt, who was its long-time chairperson. The historian, Barun De, was a family nominee on the board of the museum for several years.[6] The museum is an autonomous body, which has been under the guidance of the Ministry of Textiles of the Government of India since 1984.
Collections
Its collection includes archaeological objects, deities, manuscripts, masks, musical instruments, paintings, textiles and woodwork.[7][8]
Present status
In 2017, the central government stopped funding for the Gurusaday Museum and since then the museum had resorted to crowd-funding in order to sustain itself.[9][10][11][12] The central government proposed to transfer all the artefacts present in the Gurusaday Museum to the Indian Museum. This decision which may have been taken independently of the staff at Gurusaday Museum was met with widespread criticism.[13][14][15] As of December 2022, the museum has been temporarily closed to visitors.[16]
See also
References
- ↑ From Oral Tradition to 'Folk Art': Reevaluating Bengali Scroll Paintings. Asian Folklore Studies({Template:Date).
- ↑ Narrating Kṛṣṇa's Biography: Temple Imagery, Oral Performance, and Vaiṣṇava Mission in Seventeenth-Century Bengal. Artibus Asiae({Template:Date).
- ↑ The Tradition of Scroll Paintings with a Special Emphasis on Lord Jagannatha. Orissa Review({Template:Date).
- ↑ Lives Less Forgotten: Basanta Kumar De. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
- ↑ Lives Less Forgotten: Birendrasaday Dutt. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
- ↑ Lives Less Forgotten: Barun De. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
- ↑ Collections of the Gurusaday Museum. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
- ↑ Making Kantha, Making Home: Women at Work in Colonial Bengal{{#if:Ghosh|, Ghosh}. The University of Washington Press(2020). ISBN 9780295746999
- ↑ Centre's plan to shift artefacts from Gurusaday Museum to the Indian Museum. The Telegraph India Online(February 23, 2020).
- ↑ Folk museum faces closure. The Telegraph India Online(January 15, 2018).
- ↑ World Heritage Day: Only museum of Bengal’s cultural history looks to crowdfunding for survival. Hindustan Times(April 18, 2019).
- ↑ Will the curtain fall on Gurusaday Museum?. Livemint(April 21, 2018).
- ↑ If this rare Kolkata museum shuts down, Bengal will lose a part of its soul. Scroll.in(February 16, 2018).
- ↑ Bengali diaspora laments close down of Gurusaday Museum. Get Bengal(March 3, 2018).
- ↑ Kolkata's Gurusaday Museum seeks financial support from Centre. ANI News(May 18, 2020).
- ↑ Gurusaday Museum shut down: “A National Treasure of Indian Heritage” and unique collection of Dokra Metal craft – West Bengal. Tribal Cultural Heritage in India(October 20, 2022).
External links
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