Art & soul: 3 galleries come together as Cymroza turns 50

In 1971, a new art gallery opened in South Bombay’s Breach Candy precinct, styling itself as a “gallery for young people” and located away from the Flora Fountain-Kala Ghoda axis of the city’s art world.

The Cymroza Art Gallery’s founder, Pheroza Shroff (later Godrej), was in her early twenties. A young painter and student of English Literature, her commitments spanned a range of cultural domains, including the visual arts, literature, music, theatre, and civic participation.

She had the complete support of her family, and gave the gallery a composite name formed from theirs: ‘Cy’ for her brother Cyrus; ‘m’ for her mother Mitha; ‘roz’ for her father Phiroze and ‘a’ for herself.

Her aim: Cymroza would embrace artists, musicians, writers, cultural producers and viewers of every temperament and milieu into an expanding family. In the 1970s, Cymroza acted as a lively multi-arts forum for youth culture. During the 1980s, it was a forerunner of the commercial galleries that would emerge in Mumbai during the following decades. It now turns 50.

Golden age
To celebrate the golden jubilee there will be exhibitions that celebrate its contribution to Mumbai’s art world as well as its founder, Pheroza Godrej’s life in art.

The exhibitions form a constellation across three venues: Cymroza, Pundole’s, and Chatterjee & Lal. They will open simultaneously on 1 September 2021. Thematically, the contents of each exhibition are designed to complement each other. The Cymroza Chronicles will place rare works and archival ephemera on display at Cymroza, providing a fascinating insight into the gallery’s formative years and exhibition history as well as Godrej’s personal journey with art. At Pundole’s, Ranjit Hoskote will curate a major survey exhibition, Mapping the Lost Spectrum, incorporating highlights from the collection of Jamshyd and Pheroza Godrej. At Chatterjee & Lal, Nancy Adajania will curate The Unpaved, Crusty, Earthy Road, the first retrospective of the important fibre artist Nelly Sethna, an artist championed by Godrej.

In addition to the exhibitions, a series of talks and panel discussions are planned, with a focus on the history of the gallery scene in Mumbai, using Cymroza as an anchor. A publication is planned for release in early to mid-2022.