The exhibition entitled Stefan Norblin (1892-1952): A Master of Many Arts is a survey of his paintings on loan from the Palace in Jodhpur, India and several works from the U.S. The works from the Indian museum include paintings which feature hunting scenes, a portrait of a woman with a fruit basket, among others. Several paintings from the family collection and the Polish Arts and Culture Foundation in California are on display as well as pieces created in Poland: portraits of politicians and social elites, book illustrations and bookplates, posters, and designs and photographs of theatre costumes.
At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Rajeev Lochan, Director of the National Gallery of Modern Art, highlighted Norblin's original painting style combining the European aesthetics of art deco with influences of Hindu culture. The exhibition also marks the completion of the work of Polish conservators in the Palace in Jodhpur. The conservation works carried out together with Indian specialists started in 2006 and finished in February 2011.
Stefan Norblin was born in 1892 in Warsaw and died in 1952 in the USA. He studied painting in Antwerp and Dresden. Norblin painted portraits, designed graphics, posters and theatre costumes. In 1939 he left Poland for India where he became the court painter of Umaid Singh, the maharajah of Jodhpur.
The exhibition was prepared by Anna Szlązak from the Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola and Karni Singh Jasol, Director of the Umaid Bhawan Palace Museum in Jodhpur, where the conservation works of Norblin were completed. In September the exhibition was on display at the Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola. It was the first post-war exhibition of the artist working in Poland, India and the USA.
Following its presentation in New Delhi, the exhibition will be shown in Mumbai. Beginning on the 13th of December 2011 it will be available in the local branch of the National Gallery of Modern Art.
Date: November 2-23, 2011
Venue: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India
Source: Polish Press Agency PAP, press release