SHILLONG:
A print of state artist Rapahel Warjri’s painting has famously made its way to the Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad.
“I don’t really know how this print of the painting made it to the museum. I saw it when I visited it today,” a pleasantly surprised Warjri told The Meghalayan over the phone from the capital of Telangana, on April 3.
He said that the print displayed at the museum is of his painting, Tirot Sing Syiem, the one he had given to the Raj Bhavan in Shillong in 2020 when Tathagata Roy was the Governor of Meghalaya. “And today, it’s displayed at the Gallery of Freedom of India, in the museum,” he said.
It may be mentioned that in June 2020, the portraits of three of Meghalaya’s freedom fighters – U Tirot Sing Syiem, U Kiang Nongbah and Pa Togan Sangma – were unveiled at the Raj Bhavan.
The Salar Jung Museum is an art museum located at Dar-ul-Shifa, on the southern bank of the Musi River in the city of Hyderabad. It is one of the three National Museums of India. Originally a private art collection of the Salar Jung family, it was endowed to the nation after the death of Salar Jung III. It was inaugurated on December 16, 1951.
It has a collection of sculptures, paintings, carvings, textiles, manuscripts, ceramics, metallic artifacts, carpets, clocks, and furniture from Japan, China, Burma, Nepal, India, Persia, Egypt, Europe, and North America. It is one of the largest museums in the world.