Art deco has to be the sexiest movement in architecture and design, if we were to categorise in such an order. But while we began merely for its flamboyance, we were soon face to face with the staggering depth and diversity of how this form cross-pollinated with India’s local cultural and political context. This is art deco beyond surface decoration.
In an essay on Master, Sathe & Bhuta, an architectural firm working in the early 20th century, Atul Kumar points out, “While under colonial rule, their works reflected an emerging but strong swadeshi identity, where they melded art deco with an Indian vernacular sensibility… an articulation of a sovereign nation through its built form.” In Swastik Bhavan, the home of late Nanjibhai in Porbandar, an austere, almost Gandhian form of art deco wraps itself around the life of a traditional Gujarati family. In Shirin Bharucha’s apartment in Oval Maidan, the art deco precinct of South Bombay, the terrazzo flooring is a song. Gujarat’s Morvi Palace is singularly the most stylish interiors I’ve ever seen. Here, Stefan Norblin’s frescoes go from flapper era portraits to Shiva and Krishna mythology. In Indore’s Manik Bagh—as seen in the photographs from the Shubha & Prahlad Bubbar Collection—you spot the material purity and functionality of Bauhaus. And then art deco reaches the pinnacle of decadence in Jodhpur ’s Umaid Bhawan Palace, in its staggering volume of atriums, stairwells and endless lobbies. In Chettinad—which requires an entire issue of its own—art deco and Tamil tradition come together “like nowhere else in the world,” writes Sam Dalrymple. Finally, Pune’s Hotel Sunderban, for its enduring, subtle beauty, made the unexpected cover, in spite of the heavyweights in this issue.
Putting together this edition brought a coterie of people together. A huge part of an editor’s everyday job is to pick up the phone on people and persuade them to bring out the gold they’re sitting on. In this case, however, no persuasion was required. I hardly had to ask, just had to whisper “art deco issue”, and the response would be “yes, I will do it.” Don’t you love that? Kunal Shah curated a show of art deco at gallery 47-A in Mumbai two years ago. I remember standing in the gallery, both of us looking at each other knowingly, without words, just in the language of eyes—it was decided, yes, we must do an art deco issue someday. And he has contributed every step of the way with ideas, leads, favours, opinions and composing four stunning sets using pieces from the likes of Camelot, Mahendra Doshi, Jaipur Rugs, Moorthy’s among others—people who make art deco interiors contemporary and easily available.
Thanks to Deepthi Sasidharan, who first teased me with pictures of a home in Porbandar and then arm-twisted the shy owner to let us feature it. Atul Kumar, founder of Art Deco Mumbai Trust, for being a friend, philosopher and guide, and also the unpaid, unofficial fact-checker to this issue. Thanks to Pooja Vir of Pictor Publishing, who helped us get access to innumerable archival photographs. To all the photographers who abandoned all their shoots to go running off to Pune or Jodhpur or Porbandar—well, because our timelines are so generous—to shoot an art deco edifice. Also thanks to John Burns, editor of Kinfolk magazine, for giving us permission to reuse the story on Morvi that originally appeared in the said title. To Vikram Kamdar who brought out all the artistic watercolour renderings of Kamdar Ltd dating back to 1930s; to Hemant Chaturvedi for sharing with us his photographic collection of art deco cinemas from across the country; to Mustansir Dalvi who wrote the opening essay and put everything into context and, finally, to Rahul Mehrotra for the timely updated edition of the book Bombay Deco which proved absolutely invaluable. Also, side note: the fact that it’s 100 years since the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in post-war Paris which is widely regarded as marking the beginning of art deco—that was just magical timing. Plain got lucky! The universe conspired sort of thing.
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