The Indian art community will dearly miss one of its custodians, the inimitable Khorshed Gandhy, the director of Gallery Chemould since its inception in 1963, who passed away on Friday.
While her late husband, Kekoo, was always the face of the gallery that has supported artists like Bhupen Khakhar, SH Raza, Homi Patel, Atul Dodiya, for long, Khorshed was the hands-on organiser, who managed the nitty-gritties of the exhibitions.
She also curated many shows, of which the exhibition, Portrait of a Community, at the NGMA, Mumbai, in 2002, was the most special to her. The idea emerged when she along with her husband was sitting through prayer one day, confronted by large ancestral portraits and wondered if they could have an exhibition around those works. So, they borrowed works from various fire temples and institutions to mark the journey of the Parsi community. Friends and family remember this as a huge moment for her.
Besides, known to be a forthright person Khorshed always spoke her mind. She even wrote a cutting letter to MF Husain expressing her displeasure over him painting Indira Gandhi as Durga during the Emergency. Her life wasn’t just about art for her, it was intertwined with many social and political activities too, but Chemould, her fourth baby that she nurtured with so much love and care, was always her priority along with the family.
Incidentally, Chemould turned 50 last Tuesday, and one saw the Gandhy family from all over the world gather at the opening. Though Khorshed wasn’t present at the event, she was pleased that she saw the gallery complete half a century in her lifetime.
Article Source: Mumbai Mirror