contents
Martand Singh
Photo: Pran Udiyana
There is an infinite number of whites...
White of the jasmine flower,
White of the sea foam,
White of the August moon,
White of the conch shell,
White of the clouds that have been emptied of rain.
― Martand Singh
Profile
Martand Singh (1947-2017) was a leading cultural figure from India, involved with pioneering textile, exhibition and heritage-conservation initiatives for five decades. As a producer-curator, he represented a unique phase in the post-colonial phase of national-building, seeding the emergence of contemporary aesthetics in Indian design and fashion. Its impact was global, while being firmly rooted in local contexts and vocabularies.
His curatorial vision is best remembered through landmark exhibitions on Indian textiles which included "Vishwakarma" - A series of seven exhibitions in the USA, UK, France, Sweden, China and several Indian cities (1981-90); "Costumes of Royal India" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1985-86); "Earth and Sky," Former USSR (1986) and Tokyo (1988); "The Peacock in the Desert," Museum fur Kunst and Gewerbe, Hamburg (1991); "The Thar," National Gallery Stuttgart (1992) and "Khadi: The Fabric of Freedom" in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata (2002).
Such efforts were extended, through his role in significant positions in private and governmental art institutions, informing cultural policy. Some of these were as Administrator and Member of the Governing Council of the Calico Museum of Textiles, Ahmedabad; Founding Secretary of the Indian Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH); Chairman of INTACH UK Trust; Trustee of the Mehrangarh Fort Museum Trust, Jodhpur and Advisor, Restoration of the Chowmohallah Palace, Hyderabad. He was the General Editor of Handcrafted Indian Textiles (Roli & Jannsen BV, 2002) and Saris of India: Tradition & Beyond (Roli Books, 2010). Affectionaetly and widely known as Mapu, he was awarded the Padmabhushan, one of the highest civilian awards by the Government of India (1986).