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Grand Exhibition Of Sikh Art Opens

Kamla Bhatt in San Francisco

Although Dr Narinder Singh Kapany's family owned several magnificent manuscripts depicting the life of Guru Nanak, he did not seriously start collecting Sikh art till the 1980s.

"Suddenly I started seeing Sikh art sold at Southeby's and Christie's," said Kapany, known as the father of fiber optics, as he discussed how he developed an active interest in Sikh art.

"I frantically started buying Sikh art."

Some paintings and other historic objects that Kapany donated to the Asian Art Museum are on display here in an exhibition called 'The Arts of the Sikh Kingdom'. In all, he gave nearly 100 objects. Another highlight of the Kapany Collection is a series of 41 paintings illustrating a Janam Sakhi manuscript that tells the life story of Guru Nanak.

Recently Kapany gave $ 500,000 to The New Asian Art Museum that is under construction here. One of the Indian galleries in the new museum will be named after his wife, Satinder Kaur Kapany. Including Dr. Kapany's gift, the New Asian Art Museum Project has secured over $ 110 million of its $ 150 million goal. It is expected to open in 2001.

The current exhibition, which focuses mostly on the times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, came to San Francisco after a successful stint at Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Ranjit Singh's splendidly carved emerald ring, his golden throne an exquisite jewel box made of sandalwood inlaid with ivory and tortoiseshell are some of the objects that made their way into Kapany's collection, one of the largest private collection of Sikh Art in the world.

This week over 600 people attended the formal unveiling of 'The Arts of the Sikh Kingdom' at the Asian Art Museum, located in the heart of the lush Golden Gate Park. It is fitting that the venue for this particular exhibition is San Francisco, since some of the early Sikh immigrants to America made San Francisco.

"Dr Kapany's lifelong interest in the visual culture of Sikhism has come to fruition with his major gifts to the New Asian project and to our permanent collection," said Dr Forrest McGill, chief curator at the Asian Art Museum. "The museum is grateful to Dr. Kapany for his visionary aspirations which have helped to expand the canon of Indian art, and for his generosity which allows us to bring a body of fascinating material to the public for the first time."

The exhibition, the first of its kind in North America, will be on till January 9. Kapany says there are plans to take it to Toronto and Amritsar. Nearly 60 per cent of the $ 500,000 that cost the exhibition came from the Indian community in California, and the rest from the museum. The major donors and backers include Dr Inder Singh, Kanwal and Ann Rekhi, Bicky Singh, Jagdeep and Roshni Singh.

Dr Inder Singh is the President of the Sikh Foundation. Both Rekhi and Jagdeep Singh are prominent Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. A couple of months ago Singh's his 10-month old start up Lightera Networks was acquired by Ciena Corporation for over $ 550 million in stock. Bicky Singh is a hi-tech entrepreneur from the Los Angles area.

Kapany, a prominent and long-time resident of the Bay Area, is currently an AMP Fellow at AMP Incorporated, Palo Alto, and has held several academic appointments at Stanford University, the University of California at Santa Cruz, and the University of California at Berkeley. The author of four books and numerous academic articles, Dr. Kapany has also been granted more than one hundred patents. He is the founder of Sikh Foundation was the chief catalyst for the exhibit.

"I am very happy with the interest (in the exhibition) and it was a very satisfying experience getting it organized," he said. "Indian art is like an ocean and Sikh art is a small lake. We are very proud of it."

"Sikhs are now a global people. They started moving to Canada and California more than 100 years ago. There are many fourth generation Sikhs here and this is an excellent way for them to feel and touch their heritage," Kapany said.

The genesis for the show can be traced back to 1992 when the Sikh Foundation in Palo Alto, celebrated its 25th anniversary and mounted a small exhibit on Sikh art. "The small exhibit was a big success," Kapany said.

"I started talking to Sue Strong, a curator from Victoria and Albert Museum who was visiting us at that time." Since the exhibition was his idea, Dr Kapany took an active role in bringing the idea to fruition. "Sue Strong went with me to India and visited various museums, we went to different palaces like the one in Patiala," he said.

Their efforts paid off when the show opened in London with Prince Charles inaugurated it.

Highlights of the Sikh Exhibition at Asian Arts Museum

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